


Finding Space

by Stargatan



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Cussing, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Mutual Pining, My First Work in This Fandom, Sexual Harassment, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Smoking, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 02:26:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 40,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28823679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stargatan/pseuds/Stargatan
Summary: Tomoe Yakamura is doing her best to make her grandfather's tiny cottage into a working farm again, but when she needs to find a general contractor the elderly Mullners, who've taken her under their wings, recommend their grandson, Alex, for the job. Tomoe finds Alex to be vain, arrogant and unbearable, but she's strapped for cash and Alex needs clients. Slowly, they find each other to be different than they first thought.
Relationships: Alex/Female Player (Stardew Valley)
Comments: 41
Kudos: 36





	1. What's in a name?

Tomoe lay in bed, rubbing the calluses along her index fingers and thumbs. They had been blisters a few short months ago when she arrived in spring rains to find the land overgrown and needing work in every possible way. It had been twelve years since she had been to visit when he left her his land and in that time the last bit of worked land her grandfather maintained had gone, grown over and reclaimed by nature.

The greenhouse had been the last piece of the farm her grandfather had maintained, living off of the meager profits from beautiful, tropical flowers he sold to Zuzu florists during the winter months when none could be had, at least not locally. He undercut competitors who had to cope with travel costs and lived a humble existence. That was more than a decade ago when Tomoe had otherwise been swept up in the fevered current of college-career path expectations and kept long hours with a vague image of “success” always in the background. When her grandfather passed, the floor beneath her feet shifted and that image dissolved. What was so important that she stopped coming to visit one of the places that so dominated her childhood?

To see the greenhouse is such disrepair was a shock and a reminder of just how long she hadn’t been back. When had this happened? When had her grandfather aged so much that he let it fall to pieces? How had she not known? And so the spring flew by in a haze of long days, aching muscles and subsisting off of pub food or whatever she could cook over the fire in the cabin. She grew parsnips, cauliflower, snap peas and tulips and earned enough to invest in a chicken coop with a starter flock of four, a sizable blueberry patch and equipment to make preserves with plans to hopefully get Robin, a general contractor who lived up in the foothills of Pelican Town, to install a passable kitchen before winter hit. 

“Well Daisy” the dog’s tail thumped on the bed “I think it’s time to start the day”. 

— 

By noon the eggs were collected, chickens were out in the yard having eaten, crops were watered, two gallons of blueberries were picked, grass was cut and laid out to dry before winter storage and Tomoe was rinsing off in the makeshift outdoor shower she installed on the eastern wall of the cabin. Her grandfather had never bothered with retrofitting the cabin with modern conveniences, content to use a hip bath after being widowed and moving out to the country. Indoor plumbing was another upgrade needed before the fast approaching winter months. For now, Tomoe focused on the feeling of the cool water against her skin and the slightly scandalous feeling from showering naked out in the open. She had put up a privacy fence around two sides of the shower area but otherwise reveled in the feeling of exposure after living for most of her adult life in the city.

Noon meant most of her heavy work had passed for the day. She learned to fit it in the early hours to avoid the most intense summer heat. She woke before the sun when the ground was cool and wet with dew. Her afternoons were her leisure time, the farm work being two bookends of the day. She would be back by dinner to tend to the chickens and continue work on a piece of land further from the house where she hoped to grow pumpkins and an orchard over time. 

— 

“Here you go, doctor” Tomoe settled a paper cup of hot coffee from the pub on the counter in front of Harvey. 

Harvey Ferguson leaned over to pop the lid off the cup and inhaled deeply.

“Thank heavens” he took a deep sip and closed his eyes briefly to savor, “who knew when I moved to Pelican Town that the local pub would have great coffee.”

“Ah, well, Gus is one of our best kept secrets” Tomoe raised her cup “cheers, Harvey”.

Tomoe had managed to befriend Evelyn and George Mullner quickly after moving, having been remembered as the precocious little Tommy who tagged along with eccentric Hisato during summer months. Sure, George had a lot of rough edges (rougher now than Tomoe remembered), but he had a soft, doughy center and Tomoe learned well from being Hisato’s granddaughter on exactly how to smooth those edges, including convincing George to actually follow through with regular doctor’s appointments. He consented only if Tomoe pushed him there and Harvey and Tomoe became kindred spirits: two outsiders seeking refuge from the capitalist grind that had chewed them both up and spit them out.

They both savored another mouthful of Gus’s experimental house roast (because of course Gus tried his hand at roasting his own beans on the stovetop) before breaking the silence.

“Before I forget, fresh from the bush” Tomoe pulled a bundle from her pocket and plopped a handful of blueberries wrapped in a handkerchief on the counter.  
“Mmmmm, delicious, Tomoe. I was going to ask if they were ready yet” Harvey said.

“Just started this week, hoping to preserve whatever I can’t sell to Pierre and a couple of Zuzu distributors” Tomoe said before popping a couple of berries in her mouth and savoring another sip.

“And you’re keeping protected with good sunscreen and a wide-brimmed hat, yes? The sun’s intense this time of year” Harvey asked.

Tomoe rolled her eyes, “yes, Dr. Ferguson”. 

Harvey smiled, “only because I care, Tomoe”.

“And only because I care I’m going to ask, did you talk to Elliott yet? I ran into him on Friday at the pub” Tomoe said.

“I’m working on it, I wasn’t out in Zuzu and being newly out in a small town, well” Harvey sighed.

“I know, I do, I just have a feeling he’s interested, that’s all” Tomoe replied.

At that moment the door swung open and Evelyn Mullner walked in with her grandson Alex holding the door. 

Tomoe had seen brief glimpses of Alex in her visits to George and Evelyn, but he seemed uninterested at best, on his way to see his girlfriend or to work out or essentially anything but stay to say two words to her. He glanced at her before leaning down to ask a quiet question to Evelyn. 

“Evie!” Tomoe exclaimed, “are you well?”

Evelyn smiled at Tomoe and walked to her, “oh yes, dear, just routine, nothing to worry about. Are you coming for a Sunday Roast this weekend? We are going to use the last of the spring leeks for George’s favorite leek and potato soup” 

“Of course, Evie” Tomoe smiled. Alex had stayed by the door and looked about at a loss.  
Harvey cleared his throat. “If you’re ready Mrs. Mullner, I can take you back and start with vitals, Maru is out today”. 

“I’ll wait out here, grandma” Alex called.

Once Evelyn passed through the door from the lobby, Tomoe turned to Alex, “so is she really doing okay? I am assuming you wouldn’t just tag along for a routine appointment.”

Alex sighed, “she really is doing fine, I just thought I would tag along, doctors and hospitals make her nervous ever since . . .” Alex cleared his throat.

“Ever since what?” Tomoe asked concerned. 

Alex didn’t meet her eyes, “just forget I said anything”. He shifted on his feet. “So farmer girl, what are you doing here anyways?” He asked in a bored tone.

Tomoe narrowed her eyes “Harvey and I meet every Tuesday for coffee after lunch and I do have a name”.

“What, Tommy? Seems like an odd name for a girl” Alex smirked.

“It’s actually Toe-moe-ee. Tommy is just a name the kids around here called me when I was growing up since they couldn’t figure out my actual name”. Tomoe crossed her arms. “And anyway, it doesn’t matter what you think about it does it.”

Alex stared at her.

“Tell Evie I will see her on Sunday” Tomoe shouldered past him.

“Look, wait—“ but Tomoe was gone.


	2. Friday Night Lights

Tomoe stood and rubbed a hand down her face, looking out over the acre she was trying to reclaim for an orchard. Several weeks of backbreaking work and she wasn’t too much further than where she started. While the maple and pine trees were cleared, she still had to dig out their stumps and break up the boulders littered throughout the clearing. Not to mention digging out roots and tilling the soil. She had to find a different strategy if she was going to get this done before winter hit.

Tomoe squinted up at the sky and saw the first stars starting to peek out. Time to end the day, she still had to rinse off the grime and scarf down some kind of dinner (usually some canned beans, whatever fruit was ripe from the fields and a hunk of bread she bought from Gus).

Her mind was focused and blank when clearing the field, but on her trek back to the cabin she thought of her encounter at the clinic. She didn’t know why she let Alex under her skin. Her goal was to be a part of this community, not be competitive and surely, especially to the grandson of the Mullners who all but took her in as their own. 

And yet, Alex reminded her of the arrogant sales or marketing employees from Joja. Usually some Greek-lettered, over enthusiastic twenty-some who talked over her in meetings and asked for her number afterwards with some comment of “you’re not like the typical girl I go after”. The absolute worst was when they asked about her last name (Yakamura) and then proceeded to repeat garbage phrases such as “how exotic” in reference to their revelation of her ethnicity. 

Still, Alex hadn’t actually done any of that beyond just being garden-variety arrogant and stumbling into the sore spot that was her name. Since elementary school she asked almost everyone to just call her Tommy. It was easier than Tomoe and having to confront confusion over her appearance. Most people assumed she was white, though her hair was raven dark and her complexion olive compared to her brothers’ paleness. Tommy, though masculine, seemed to fit better with people’s expectations and so made her life easier. But when Tomoe quit Joja and moved out to Pelican, she had wanted to take on a new identity. She liked Tomoe, she never liked being called Tommy. She intended to leave Tommy behind, forgetting that Sebastian, Abigail and Sam already called her that when she visited Sato during the summer months.

She feebly attempted to correct them in the first several months of her return and then gave up, content to let Pelican new comers like Harvey call her Tomoe and leaving her three long lost childhood friends to their memories of her. So when Alex inadvertently poked at that tender spot, he got a lot more baggage in her response than she intended. 

Tomoe lit the burner on the camp stove as she toweled off her hair, grabbing the cast iron skillet she leaned up against the cabin wall and placing it over the flame. She cranked open a can of baked beans as the hunk of baguette bread from Gus toasted on the skillet. She dreamed of a microwave one day, but for now she tried to enjoy the starry sky and her independence. 

—

Friday nights at the Stardrop Saloon were about as chaotic as Pelican Town ever became. The majority of the town showed up for a pitcher or some of Gus’s surprisingly delicious bar food and whatever passed as gossip for a town as small as Pelican. Tomoe had been the unlucky target since her arrival in town, though the vast majority of it was good-natured. 

Thankfully she was able to fall back in with Sebastian, Sam and Abigail. They were used to Tomoe spending her childhood summers in town and graciously invited her to join since she took over her grandfather’s land.

Friday nights at Stardrop also meant a clean pair of leggings and a black tank that actually hadn’t been caked in dirt, mud or whatever else she dug up in her farming work. It was what passed as “dressing up” in Tomoe’s current life. She even decided to let her hair hang loose instead of pulled back tight in a braid and pinned up. It was getting long, trailed down mid-back. She let it loose because it was comfortable and the night was cool, but she was started to regret the decision when she saw how Sebastian watched her with wide eyes.

Abigail spoke first as Tomoe strode up with their first pitcher and set it on the bar set next to the pool table.

“Tommy, your hair!” Abigail picked up a strand and admired it. “It’s beautiful, you should leave it down more often.” Sebastian cleared his throat and turned away. 

Sam smirked and handed Tomoe her stick, “you’re on my team tonight, Tommy. I think we might actually beat Seb this time.” She cleared her throat and mumbled a thanks. Great, she had suspected Sebastian might be attracted to her, but his awkwardness tonight confirmed it. 

Sure enough, several rounds in and Sebastian had flubbed twice when he usually was miles ahead. He would glance away quickly whenever Tomoe caught his eye. She puffed out a breath and leaned her stick against their table. 

“I’m gonna get the next round, take five” she said.

“You already got the first round, it’s, ah, mine turn anyways,” Sebastian blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, “you, ah, you want to help me carry, Tommy?” he asked and looked away.

“After you” she gestured towards the bar. Sam wagged his eyebrows as they passed. Tomoe rolled her eyes.

“You, ah, you look beautiful tonight, Tommy” Sebastian murmured as the moved towards the bar out of earshot of the others.

She turned to face him and tilted her head.

“I appreciate the compliment, Seb,” she paused and he blushed, “how’s your contracting work going?”

“What?” Sebastian blinked.

“Your work, how is it?” Tomoe repeated.

“It’s, uh, fine. Interesting. I am trying to save up enough to move out.” Sebastian stammered.

“Gus, we’ll take another pitcher” Tomoe called as Gus walked to them from behind the bar.

“Listen, Seb, we’ve known each other for a long time. No reason to be nervous and I’m not look for a relationship right now, I like hanging out with you, Sam and Abigail on Fridays, I don’t want to ruin that, I just moved here.” She watched him as he grimaced.

“I hear that, I’m not going to push. Just. You’re beautiful and interesting and different and this town’s small as hell” Sebastian smiled. “I just don’t . . . have a lot of experience with interesting, beautiful women.”

The corner of Tomoe’s mouth quirked upward, “well, that wasn’t half-bad as pick-up lines go, Seb.” She grabbed the pitcher that Gus set on the bar and Sebastian opened a tab. As they started to walk back, Tomoe added, “let’s just stick with our Fridays for now”.

Sebastian deflated and the evening lapsed into tense conversation. Once the game ended, Tomoe made her excuses: big week, new crop, see you soon! and headed out early.

As she started north from the Saloon towards Pierre’s before taking the path back home, she tried to focus on the night air and the cool breeze rustling her hair. She was in her own little world when she bumped head first into a warm body that reached out and caught her elbow before she tipped over. 

“Need some glasses, farmer—Tomoe?” Alex Mullner peered down at her. Tomoe blushed and pushed away. She didn't like Alex. He was cold towards her, seemed like he did not approve of her relationship with his grandparents. But, damn, he was pretty to look at. Thick and fit, his shirts always pulling tight over his chest and biceps. His skin was a smooth, silky olive and his face was conventionally handsome and always well groomed. He was too good-looking to not be vain unfortunately. 

“Just in my own thoughts, excuse me.” Tomoe moved towards continuing her hike back to her land.

Alex laid a hand on her arm. 

“Listen, ah, sorry about the clinic.” Alex murmured without looking at her. 

Tomoe looked at him in surprise, his deep brown eyes unable to meet her gaze. He seemed genuine and it was the first nice thing she recalled seeing from him. 

“What are you doing out here?” she asked, he turned and faced the kennel he that was out in the front yard of his grandparents.   
“Just hanging out with Dusty” he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck as an old hound dog crept out from a doghouse and eyed her warily.

“Woulda thought you hang out at the Saloon with the rest of the town on a Friday night, or maybe with Haley?” she asked.

He dropped his hand from rubbing the back of his neck and his eyes shuttered.

“I don’t do alcohol, don’t really care to see everyone in this shitty little town get plastered” he ground out, his face turning red. 

Tomoe looked at him in surprise. She would have pegged him as the first person who would get hammered on a Friday night like the fratboy type he appeared to be. Maybe there was more to Alex than she knew. 

“Sorry, Tomoe. That wasn’t really directed at you. I just have had some bad experiences,” Alex said quietly.

“Good night Alex. Thanks for calling me by my name” she winced at the tone that sounded more petulant than she meant. 

He crossed his arms, “see you on Sunday. I would ask if you want to watch the game too but I’m guessing that’s not your thing.”

“Just when you were nice, then you go and act like an ass again” she replied.

He smiled, but there was no warmth in it. 

“I just know what I want and I take it, bet you’re not used to seeing that in a small town like this” he said.

She rolled her eyes and headed off. Alex pushed out a long breath and watched her go. Tomoe was smart, hardworking, determined, pretty and he couldn’t seem to stop trying to push her away


	3. First Impressions

_Three months earlier_

Tomoe shifted through the sheets at the cashier’s desk at Pierre’s showing the various seed available. She already had a good amount of parsnip seed, but was hoping to get as large a crop as possible in the next several weeks to try and kick start her profits. Problem was she could barely rub two cents together. 

She ran her hand through her hair, silently cursing her excitement to leave Joja without waiting to sell her house in Zuzu City. But if she was anything she was impulsive and here she was, learning everything as she went. 

The door opened behind her, sending the tingle of the bell to the back of the store. Tomoe didn’t look up from her phone, trying to calculate just how much she could afford on seed and keep food in her stomach until her house sold and she had more capital. 

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed before she heard someone coughing behind her. It happened again. And then once more before Tomoe realized someone was trying to get her attention.

She looked up and behind her and saw an older woman with white hair and kind eyes.

“You must be our town’s newest addition. My name is Evelyn Mullner, I live just off the town square. We are so pleased to have you take over Sato’s farm. He will be missed, but it is wonderful to have it kept in his family” She said while reaching out to grab Tomoe’s hand.

The woman fluttered her free hand, “I’m sorry I’m prattling on dear, we just don’t get much excitement as a new neighbor very often around here.”

Tomoe smiled, “well I am happy to bring some excitement. I’m Tomoe Yakamura. It’s good to meet you Ms. Mullner.” Tomoe instantly liked her. She seemed genuinely welcoming and her excitement was endearing. 

“Call me Evie, dear. You must come over for Sunday roast and meet George.”

“Really, grandma?”, a deep voice muttered.

It was then that Tomoe noticed a young man in his early 20s standing with his arms crossed behind Evie.

He was conventionally, and devastatingly handsome. Tall, lean but clearly very fit with a tight black shirt showing off his toned chest. He had dark brown hair and eyes and the air of someone who knew he was attractive. Tomoe immediately disliked him. 

“Oh Alex, it will be fun!” Evie turned to the man.

“Tomoe, this is my grandson, Alex”

Alex leaned forward and grinned with his hand out, “remember this as the day you met Alex Mullner before he goes pro”.

Tomoe raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms before turning back to Evie, “Evie, thank you for the invitation, I would be happy to meet George on Sunday”. 

“Oh wonderful! Let me see what Pierre has in stock for me to cook up.” Evie turned to Alex and laid a hand on his arm, “be nice, Alex” she murmured before walking away.

Alex dropped his hand, “Stubborn, huh, well you missed your chance to get on my good side, farmer girl. I guarantee you will see me on TV in the next year.”

“Lucky me,” Tomoe replied and left without looking back.


	4. A Truce and a Deal

_Present day_

Tomoe rolled her neck after a particularly busy morning trying to clear out the acres of land she hoped would hold her orchard. She was behind. She needed to also get the greenhouse up and running complete with a heater so she could get some plants in and stay productive over the winter months. Not to mention she needed a damn shower actually inside her house. She would not boil her water over the fire and take hip baths all winter long like her grandfather Sato did. She had the money for the renovations, but there just wasn’t enough time in the day. She started waking even before four in the morning. 

She briefly considered cancelling her typical Sunday late lunch with Evelyn and George (Alex was always out with Haley or working out, thank god) but she needed to eat and the reality was her farm plans was just too much for one person. Thankfully her house in Zuzu had sold and she finally had money from the sale to invest in updating the farm.

She quickly washed off all the grime for the morning and checked her hands in the spray. The work glove on her left hand hadn’t helped when she attempted to unearth a particularly stubborn length of root and a root snapped in her hand and dug into her palm. She washed it thoroughly and wrapped it with some antibacterial gel and a roll of gauze before walking to her closet and grabbing a laundry bag. Part of her arrangement of weekly lunches with Evelyn and George was she also used their washer and dryer during her visit seeing as she had none at her place. 

She tossed one of the few pieces of clothing left from the week—a yellow cotton sundress that had absolutely no practical value for her work on the farm but that she tossed in her suitcase for her move simply because the color made her happy. 

—

Tomoe wrapped her knuckles of the Mullners’ front door, flexing her left hand around the gauze she wrapped after her left hand. 

The door opened and Alex stepped to the side to let her in, “what did you do to yourself?” he asked in a bored tone, eyeing her hand.

“I am fine, thanks for asking, why are you here?” Tomoe said and she breezed past him to the kitchen to find Evelyn.

“I do live here”

“And you always manage to make yourself scarce on Sunday afternoons” Tomoe responded tartly.

Alex rolled his eyes, “I wonder why, with you and your charming personality”.

“Something smells delicious, Evie!” Tomoe declared, kissing her cheek. The old woman turned to smile at her.

“How was your morning, dear?” Evelyn asked and then she saw her hand, “oh Tomoe, I keep telling you that you need an extra set of hands for all that you plan to do with Sato’s land.” She turned over her hand and unwrapped it, “let me look at this, dear. Alex, take Tomoe’s laundry and throw it in the washer, will you?”

“Sure grandma” he moved down the hall with her bag.

“Really, Evie, I’m fine” Tomoe pleaded.

“Nonsense, Sato was a kind man, but he lived with almost no modern conveniences, that’s no way to live. I know you want to get at least a bathroom on that house before winter, ask Alex to help. He’s not going to classes this fall, did he tell you he got his general contractor license? He could help you, he is looking to start working soon” Evelyn chattered on as she tugged Tomoe to the kitchen sink and ran warm water over her wound.

“I thought he planned to go pro” Tomoe muttered and then hissed when Evelyn started to scrub at her palm with soap. 

“Oh he talks like that around town because of his father, it’s all a bluff. Alex has the time and skills for what you need.” Evelyn continued.

“And what do you need, Tomoe?” Alex asked in his deep voice as he returned to the kitchen, quirking an eyebrow in their direction. 

Tomoe knew Evelyn was trying to help, she acted as a stand-in grandparent of sorts since Tomoe moved back four months ago in March, but she had a blindspot when it came to Alex, she always downplayed his arrogance. 

“Really, Evie, I’m fine. I was going to talk with Robin this week anyways on the home addition,” Tomoe did not want to be left working with Alex.

Alex walked over to lean against the counter next to Tomoe and crossed his arms, “whatever Robin quotes you I can do it for less. I know what I’m doing, got my license, just need to build a client base.”

“What happened to going pro?” Tomoe asked as Evelyn grabbed a fresh hand towel from a drawer and pressed it to her palm.

Alex grimaced, “look, my work will be impeccable at a great price. It would be stupid to turn me down. And anyways, clearly you need the help” he gestured to her hand.

Tomoe wanted to say she would rather lose her hand than work with Alex as her general contractor, but if he did indeed plan to do it for less than Robin and he didn’t have a ton of other clients yet like she knew Robin did it was hard to say no on a practical level. 

“I will be right back, dear” Evelyn said before heading down the hall to get supplies to dress her wound. Tomoe swore she could see a twinkle in her eye as she headed out of the room. Damnit Evie. 

Tomoe sighed. “You’re arrogant and an ass, I think the extra money I would pay Robin might be worth it not having to deal with that everyday.”

Alex pushed off the counter to stand directly next to her, starting down at her from his foot and half extra height. 

“I actually know I’m an arrogant son of a bitch, believe it or not. But I guarantee I will give you the better quality than Robin at a cheaper price. I can also keep my mouth shut if that sweetens the deal” Alex replied.

Tomoe studies him, his dark brown eyes, tousled hair and freshly cut fade. He always seemed to have some kind of facade up, some persona he seemed to feel like he needed to front so he could show up everyone in town, but now he seemed perfectly genuine.

Tomoe relented, “why do you want this job so bad?”

Alex studied her for a beat, his dark eyes searching her face. He then let out a long sigh.   
“I put a lot of my energy trying to get a transfer to a four year institute on an athletic scholarship and . . .” he turned and faced away from her, “and I didn’t get my transfer. I also didn’t get the kind of project management experience my classmates did since I was focused on athletics so I need someone to hire me for a job” he turned back to face her.

“But I was the top of every class, I can guarantee you I know what I’m doing” the harden glint returned to his eyes. 

Well shit. Tomoe was always a sucker for taking lost college interns under her wing at Joja. She know how internships often favored students who already had the most connections and left others behind and she knew Alex would have been one of those interns. Could she really stand to deal with Alex Mullner for that long?

“What you doing standing around staring at our guest, boy?” George said gruffly, rolling into the kitchen in his wheelchair. 

“Deal” Tomoe blurted before she could stop herself and Alex stalked from the kitchen.

He stopped, “you won’t regret it”.

“I better not” Tomoe sighed.


	5. Contractor and Client

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are picking up! I forgot to tag that these two are potty mouths.

Shit. What did Tomoe get herself into? She scrubbed her face with her hands before bending to swing the kettle over the fire she stoked back up from its morning embers. The digital clock blinked 7:00AM. She already watered most of her crops and was getting ready to meet Alex to start work on the greenhouse and the house expansion. 

There was a rap at her door. Exactly on time. He was about as arrogant as anyone she'd ever met, but she could appreciate punctuality. She swung the door open to find Alex with work boots, jeans and a white t-shirt stretched taut over his chest. He had a tool belt already looped around his lean waist, a notebook in hand and a backpack slung over one shoulder.

“Come in, let’s talk over tea” Tomoe gestured at the pine table and chair tucked into the corner.

Alex stepped in and toed off his boots at the door, setting them neatly next to hers. She watched him study the space. 

“I can see why you’re looking to expand . . . your grandfather lived here year-round?” he asked with eyebrows raised.

“Sato was . . . eccentric. He felt like modern conveniences made for lazy people”. Tomoe set down a tea pot and spooned in tea leaves before grabbing two mugs. 

Alex smiled and took a seat, “that sounds like him”.

Tomoe turned to look at him, “I forgot you must have knew him since you moved to town after I stopped visiting. How long have you been here anyways?” she asked.

Alex scratched at his chin, “moved in when I was 13, so just about a decade now” Alex said. He rubbed his hands on his knees before he opened his notebook, “anyways, let’s get to it. What are you thinking?”

Tomoe filled the tea pot and set it on the table to steep. 

“The priority is getting the greenhouse repaired and ready for planting. It will need the heater or repaired or replaced, not sure if it is salvageable. It’s an old coal heater, but that’s obviously not practical anymore” Alex listened intently and took notes as she talked. 

“Once that’s done, I want to get a bathroom fitting on to this house. Basic, nothing fancy. Just a typical shower, toilet and sink. If we can get a stove and refrigerator in here that would be great as well. I am not concerned with a separate sleeping area for the moment, just need a couple of necessities added on before the winter hits and I can start eating more than whatever fruit I picked this morning and tinned beans.” Tomoe rattled off.

Alex raised a hand to stop her, “we should start the bathroom first, greenhouse will be quick—“ 

“No, the greenhouse is the most important, it’s how I will make income over the winter,” she said. Already she started to doubt Alex would work. “Don’t argue with me, Alex. Is this how you are going to treat all your future clients?”.

“Tomoe, my job as I see it is to get you where you want to be. I am telling you that you need to do the bathroom first. We will need tap into the municipal water lines and get a stack in, not to mention dig out and install a septic system. That will take the longest, we need to do that first.” Alex said firmly. “Now, greenhouse, bathroom, possibly a gas line for a stove though electric can work, what else?” he continued.

Tomoe studied him for a moment. He was right of course, and he was also right to push her. Tomoe always hated his confidence, which dipped into this side of arrogance constantly so it was infuriating in a way that he was right. She breathed out. 

“That’s it, seems like plenty to get done before November hits” she said.

Alex nodded and unzipped the backpack at his feet to pull out a laptop which he opened, tapped several times on the trackpad and spun for her to look at.

“I anticipated that you were at least looking for a bathroom expansion and the greenhouse repair so I put together a preliminary gantt chart with some wiggle-room for both time and cost baked in. If all goes well we can get the basics done by September so if we run into hiccups we should have plenty of time until November,” he paused and clicked on a separate tab. “Here’s the budget, wasn’t sure what your ceiling was but I can give you a range of $25,000 to $30,000 materials and labor with 25 percent contingency baked in.”

He was thorough. He even color-coded depending on electric, plumbing, etc. He had a separate time for the specialists complete with referral details. Damnit, this is the exact level of detail that Tomoe loved. 

“Alex, this is good. This is so detailed.” Tomoe pulled the computer towards her to click through the tabs. 

“Your proposal is both faster and cheaper than I had been anticipating,” she stared a surprise glance his way and he looked at the table, suddenly very interested in getting a mug of tea. 

“I told you, I know what I am doing.” He said, taking a sip from his mug.

“Wait” Tomoe leaned in to study the budget. “Your labor costs are too low, your hourly isn’t even at $10, we need to bump it to $15”.

Alex rubbed the back of his neck, “I promised you high quality work and a low cost, I cut the hourly until I could get the materials I wanted.”

Tomoe shook her head, “labor at $15 an hour or no deal”. 

Alex stared at her and crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair. He watched her. She was short, lean and had a look of finality in every line of her body. He naturally wanted to fight back, he spent so much energy trying to push back against any voice in his life that insisted he be or do anything. And yet, he couldn’t fight her.

He sighed and leaned forward, “are you always this stubborn?” 

She huffed a laugh and smiled. It did funny things to him. This might have been the first time he made her smile and it lit something up in his chest. He shut down a desire to make her smile again.

“Absolutely” she replied. She stood up and put out her hand.

Alex eyed her warily before shaking it, “don’t think I have a choice do I? Especially since I scheduled the county building inspector to come out to the site at 9AM and look at my plans for the water stack.”

Tomoe raised an eyebrow, “you are a cocky motherfucker”.

Alex shrugged and pulled his hand away to slide his laptop back into his backpack. 

Tomoe turned to the nightstand and opened a drawer for her checkbook, “ten percent initial payment and half more once we get the project halfway through” she turned back to hand him the check. 

Alex took it and lined up the corners to fold the check carefully and zip it into a side pocket. He hesitated before catching her eye, “thank you, Tomoe” he said quietly. 

She watched him, looking into his dark brown eyes. She felt a bit like she was falling. _Fuck, Tomoe, remember he can be an asshole._ “Just do a damn good job, alright?”


	6. Poppies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry Sebastian fans, he's turning into a bit of a jerk in this story. Also, why doesn't anyone in Pelican Town like poppies?

A week in and Tomoe knew two things. The first, that Alex was incredibly organized, clean and punctual. The second, that all of those pluses were due to having the most type A personality of anyone she ever met. Which meant they were going to need to figure out a schedule for the house expansion that fit better around her farm work.

“Alex, I need to feed the chickens early in the morning and let them out of the coop into their pen. That means I need room for my four-wheeler to bring the feed” Tomoe rapped on his truck hood to get his attention.

He leaned out of his driver’s side window, “can’t they wait? I need to get the measurements for the septic dig this morning.”

Tomoe swung the heavy bag of feed on her shoulder to land on the hood of the truck with a resounding thunk.

“No they cannot wait, Alex. I’m not going to drag this damn feedbag from the shed up the hill every damn morning when I can just bring it in the four-wheeler.”

Alex hopped out of the truck and flipped open his notebook and began to pace, “I was on the phone last night with some equipment companies, I can rent the skid steer as early as next week and we can get the plumber out earlier too. You could get the bathroom piped in less than a month. We could probably add a job before November or maybe—“

“Alex”

“You said an orchard in the south field—“

“Alex”

“Or maybe there’s more work you want in the house—“

“ALEX”

He stopped to face her.

“The farm operations have to continue. The expansion needs to fit around the farm, okay? Don’t park your truck here in the mornings,” she snapped.

He raised his hands in surrender, “I’m just trying to get you the most efficient expansion possible.“

“Alex! You have reworked your plans like a dozen times, we are only a week in, just stick with the original timeline, will you?”

“I’m just—“ Alex fisted his hair.

Tomoe raised a hand to stop him, “I can’t right now, just let me feed the chickens”.

She could hear him groan behind her.

—

Tomoe was angrily chucking the feed around her feet and ended up pegging one of the hens with a handful. It squawked and batted its wings at her.

“He’s just so infuriating!” she said by way of an apology. The hen looked at her warily.

“One minute he’s carefully lining up his shoes by the front door without me having to ask and the next he ignores me completely” Tomoe chucked another handful of feed down.

She should have stuck with her gut on the first day they met. She knew he was arrogant and proud and why should she expect he would respect her space. Had she let her relationship with the Mullners cloud her judgement? Had she let her guard down because he was attractive and needed help and she was pitying him like a kicked puppy?

No. She didn’t do pity generally. It seemed like maybe for once she got a lucky break and would save a good chunk of money on the expansion. But generally when something was too good to be true she stayed skeptical. Maybe it was being out in the country that was making her go soft.

She took a deep breath. She should give it another week. It was his first job, she could give him some time to find his feet.

She closed the gate to the chicken pen behind her and made her way back towards the house. She saw he moved his truck. See, Tomoe? Progress.

She made the trek back towards the cottage but slowed when she saw his truck wasn’t there either. She turned in time to see a glimpse of it turning the corner towards the gravel path towards town. She glanced down at her phone and saw a text from Alex.

ALEX: I am heading home for the day.

Well, fuck.

—

Sam yawned as he twisted berries from the stems and plonked them into the tray of pint baskets. Sam, Abigail and Sebastian came over that morning to help Tomoe with the strawberry harvest. Abigail looked just as tired as Sam, haphazardly tossing handfuls of berries into the tray. Sebastian was the only one of the three who looked bright.

Tomoe walked over to Sebastian to replace his full tray with an empty one.

“I cannot thank you three enough, there was no way I was going to get through this harvest fast enough without some rotting on the plant”.

“Happy to help, Tommy” Sebastian answered brightly.

Abigail rolled her eyes and leaned over to Sam, “I wouldn’t have minded a couple hours more sleep. You and your bleeding heart.”

Sam elbowed her, “shut it, Abby. You’re the world’s worst wing woman. We're supposed to be helping Seb.”

Tomoe pretended not to hear their whispers and gritted her teeth as she walked back to the four-wheeler with the full tray of pint baskets. If she had a choice she wouldn’t have leaned on them for help and she had hoped asking the whole group would’ve prevented any awkwardness with Sebastian, but clearly that wasn’t happening

Tomoe climbed on her four-wheeler and made her way back to the house to pack up the truck.

As she rounded the bend in the trail she slowed down. Alex’s truck was parked neatly next to her house. She couldn’t help a flair of anger arcing through her chest.

She saw him rise from the porch out of the corner of her eye, but she kept her gaze straight ahead on the bed of her truck, flinging the tray of pint baskets in a little harder than she intended.

She could hear Alex clear his throat behind her. She took a deep breath and turned to face him, her arms crossed tightly across her chest.

“I hope you’re here to apologize” she snapped without meeting his eyes.

He exhaled and she peeked a glance at him. He looked tired and his dark eyes held a vulnerable light to them that she rarely saw.

Alex rubbed the back of his neck and exhaled noisily.

Tomoe let her hands drop to her sides.

“This is hard for me. I know I’m not good at taking direction when I think I have something to prove” Tomoe rolled her eyes, “but” he said quickly. “But I screwed up, I’m sorry about running off. I was embarrassed, you were right, I wasn’t paying attention,” he looked at her sheepishly.

“And I was hoping we could rewind, pretend I didn’t run off on you and I can work around what you need to keep the farm running,” he finished, watching her face.

She searched him, he looked earnest. She felt her anger cool and her lips twitched into a smile.

He grinned and leaned into his truck, pulling out a mason jar from his cupholder with a bouquet of bright poppies and a ribbon tied around the brim.

Tomoe quirked an eyebrow as he handed to her.

Alex looked at this feet, “I, uh, heard grandma talking about how you were going to plant poppies since they are your favorite flower,” Tomoe looked at him in surprise. Alex paid closer attention than she realized.

“Do you . . . like them?” he asked quietly.

“Well they certainly make it hard to stay mad at you,” Tomoe smiled. “How about we meet every Monday so we can get a schedule that works for the reno and the farm,” she stuck out her hand.

He grabbed it, his hand was warm and lined with callouses, “deal”.

Sebastian cleared his throat from behind Tomoe and she dropped her hand, “we were wondering where you were, filled up some more trays” he said tersely. Tomoe could see some red creeping up the back of his neck.

“Sorry, Seb, uh Alex stopped by” she gestured dumbly.

“I can see that” he mumbled, loading the berries into the back of her truck.

“I, uh, got to get back to the fields” she said, without meeting Alex’s eyes. She could feel her face heating up for reasons she didn’t quite understand.

“Seb, want to grab some more empties with me?” she said, not meeting either of their eyes. She turned before realizing she was still holding the flowers.

“Oh” she pressed the flowers into Alex’s hand, “can you put those on my table?”

He angled his head to catch her eyes, “sure, Tomoe” he said and he turned towards her house.

Seb fell into step beside her, “why does he call you that?” he asked.

“Because that’s my name, Seb” she responded quickly, he raised his hands in defense.

“Woah, Tommy, I’m just trying to look out for you. Alex is a jerk, you know that.”

“Seb, please, he came to apologize.”

He stopped walking and grabbed her wrist.

“I’ve lived in Pelican Town for a long time, Tommy, and I can tell you Alex is bad company,” he searched her face. “Besides isn’t he with Haley?”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Tomoe asked.

“He gave you flowers, Tommy”

“They were an apology, we . . . had a disagreement over getting the reno to work around my farm work.”

Sebastian sighed noisily before leaning in towards her. Tomoe turned her head and his lips brushed her cheek.

“Seb, I told you, I’m not looking for a relationship.”

“Well, I thought I would take my chances since you let him give you flowers.”

Tomoe rolled her eyes, “Seb, please don’t make this any harder than it needs to be, I don’t want to hurt your feelings. I appreciate you coming out and helping me today and I like spending time with you, but as a friend.”

Sebastian took a step back and looked at his feet.

“Can we go back to the fields now?” Tomoe asked.

“Sure” Sebastian muttered.


	7. Fireflies and Crickets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: mention of alcohol abuse and emotional abuse. I also changed the canon of Alex's backstory just a bit.

Tomoe was bone tired. She stretched out, back flat on her porch, looking up at the starry summer sky. She was starting to drift away in her thoughts when she could hear the crunch of gravel under boots and the thud of footsteps on the steps.

Alex peered down at her, his boots on either side of her face, “what are you doing?” he asked.

She smiled, “imagining myself taking a nice bath in my soon-to-be new bathtub”.

He huffed a laugh, “you’re weird”. He toed an empty bottle of beer by her ear, “and I am realizing possibly drunk, how many of those have you had?”

She flipped over and sat up, grabbing another beer and taking a deep swig, “just one”. 

He raised an eyebrow at the beer in her hand.

“Okay, one and a half”, she leaned back against the railing, “want one? You’re here late today”. 

He shook his head, but plopped down next to her, moving his head from side to side, “nah, I’m good, thanks though.” 

"Want some ocha instead? I have some in that thermos over there, it's nice and cold" Tomoe gestured beside her. 

Alex grabbed it, twisted off the lid and smelled the liquid, "what is it?" he asked.

"It's barley tea. Don't worry, there isn't even caffeine in it."

He took a gulp, "mmm" he hummed and took another sip, "this is good."

"Sato taught me how to make it"

Alex stopped, "wait, how did you make it cold?"

Tomoe laughed, "Sato buried an insulated metal box in the ground next to the water pump in lieu of a refrigerator. I put in a thermometer so I make sure to keep a consistent temperature so I have a cold chain for the eggs."

Alex raised an eyebrow, "that is some 1800s technology shit."

"Hence why I daydream about indoor plumbing and electricity" Tomoe sighed. She was feeling a little buzzed and looser than normal and couldn’t stop herself from asking, “why don’t you drink alcohol, Alex?”.

He stared at her, “that’s a personal question”. 

“You don’t have to answer, just wondering. You strike me as a guy who would be into beer and sports at the bar”. 

He snorted and let his head fall back against the railing with a thunk. 

He turned to look at her, “I did drink, before I mean.” 

She watched him quietly and he turned to face her.

“My dad is . . . a drunk. Mom and I left to live with grandma and grandpa to escape it, but he still had custody for some weekend visits. He would say that mom and I weren’t any better than him and that I would always be stuck in small, shithole towns. When I got the scholarship to play college ball I thought I made it.” He exhaled loudly and looked back up at the stars.

“Well, I got drunk at a party once when I was trying to rush a frat and they said I needed to steal a nameplate from a professor’s desk. I got caught, got probation and the team cut me. Said being on probation violated the terms of my scholarship. Haven’t touched a drop of alcohol since.”

Tomoe laid her hand on his shoulder, “I’m so sorry, Alex”.

He laughed, but there was no humor, “don’t be, I did it to myself. Proved the old man right though, that was the worst part.”

Tomoe shook her head, “Alex look at me”, she put a hand on his jaw and turned him to face her. His hurt was raw even though she could see he was trying to hide it.

“He is not right about you. I know we didn’t get off on the right foot when I came to town, but you are not your dad. You are going to get this reno done way under budget and faster than I ever thought possible.” Tomoe was breathing heavy, she was angry and hurt for him.

He smiled though it didn’t touch his eyes, “Thanks.”

He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, “I know I said a lot of shit about going pro when we first met, but that’s not me.”

“I know,” Tomoe said. 

They sat shoulder-to-shoulder listening to the sound of crickets and watching the fireflies gracefully bobbing out in the fields.

“This is why I left Zuzu City” Tomoe sighed, taking another sip of beer and gesturing out towards the fields.

“Seems like a lot of damn work trying to get this all into shape” Alex said. 

“Yea, well, you’ve met me. I’m about as stubborn as a rhino” she quipped and Alex snorted.

She turned to smile at him. He was softer here than when she saw him around town. His tan skin gleamed in the light from the porch lamp and in the distant pulse of the fireflies. Her chest fluttered in ways she wished she could control, but here he was smelling of sunlight and soil with warm dark eyes she could fall into. 

Tomoe bumped her shoulder into his, “I like this version of Alex.”

He smiled, “what version?”

“The Alex who laughs at my jokes” she smiled.

He watched her, “I like that Alex too.”


	8. Invitations

Tomoe looked up when she heard Alex’s truck rumbling down her gravel drive. As he got closer she could hear a bass-heavy melody playing over his stereo. To her surprise it sounded like he was singing along. Of course his singing voice is beautiful too. It was rough but sweet, like thistle in honey. She felt a spark of electricity settle in her stomach.

He caught her eye and winked as he pulled in, throwing the truck into park and leaving it running as he opened the door and cranked up the volume. He started dancing as he made his way to her, singing and over exaggerating all of the words and swiveling his hips in time with the beat. His jeans hung low on his hips and she couldn’t stop from letting her eyes trail their angles, traveling up the planes of his chest. She couldn’t quite place when it happened, but he was mesmerizing when he was happy and his facade had been crumbling over the last several weeks. It was as if the ground beneath her feet had been shifting to push her closer to him. 

His eyes seem to glitter and his lean body moved like liquid, lithe and lean. When he got close, he grabbed her hand and spun her before reaching a strong arm around her waist and dipping her low as the final beats played out. As the song faded away, he set her back on her feet and grinned before jogging back to turn the engine off and shut the door.

“What brought this on?” she asked, a little breathless and thinking about how his arm felt looped around her waist.

He grinned, “today’s the day I install the septic tank!”

Tomoe burst into laughter and he wagged his eyebrows at her, “you can’t tell me you aren’t looking forward at being able to shit in your own house.”

Tomoe gasped, “Alex! I do not want to talk about my bathroom habits with you.” She could feel a blush spreading over her cheeks.

He rolled his eyes, “come on, I want to show you the plans for how I’m installing it today and I was hoping to make a couple of adjustments to placement in the bathroom.” 

He walked towards her house in long, loping strides, grabbing a couple of logs from her pile stacked against the outside wall on his way. Inside, he tossed them in her fireplace before checking the kettle for water and swinging it over the fire. It did funny things to her insides to see how comfortable he was in her house. She watched his shoulder muscles bunch and he stoked the fire.

“Tea, huh? Trying to butter me up?” She asked, leaving against the wall and watching him move.

The corner of his mouth titled up, “what if I am, are you complaining?”

Tomoe walked over to the table and sat down, “not in the slightest.”

Alex moved to grab her tea canister, “can I ask you something?”

“Sure” Tomoe answered. 

“Why did you leave Joja?” 

Tomoe looked at him, “that’s a random question.”

“I’ve just been thinking about work and careers and I wanted to ask,” Alex pulled out a chair across from her to sit while the water boiled. He was beautiful when he was like this, gazing in her eyes without his guard up. He was loose, relaxed and open.

“I mean, I guess it wasn’t just Joja. I mean, I started to really focus on grades in middle and high school and then when I was accepted to school on a scholarship I poured everything into my degree. I thought that was what people were supposed to do. And I started to plan out my career. I set my sights on Joja since they are a name everyone knows. I figured that would be my jumping off point and I would work my way to Chief Financial Officer. And then one day it was like I looked up at the world around me for the first time in years. I thought work had to be my calling, you know?”

Alex nodded.

“And then I realized I kinda didn’t like work and everything started to unravel. When my grandfather died, it woke me up. I didn’t want to be defined by my career and I realized I wasn’t even sure why I was so focused on going up the ladder except that it was what I was supposed to do. It’s enough to enjoy what I do for money and then follow other passions. I can read and cook, well when I get a kitchen, and not be constantly ‘on a path.’ ” Tomoe said, emphasizing the last phrase with air quotes.

Alex leaned back in his chair and looked at the wall, “I’ve been thinking of dropping this whole pro dream all together and when I think about it, it’s like a weight is lifted. Is that ridiculous?”

Tomoe shook her head, “of course not, why would it be?”

He set the chair back down on all four legs and leaned forward, “I mean, I guess I have always been worried about proving my dad wrong, but I like doing this” he waved his hand to indicate the renovation progress. “I like working with my hands and fitting it all together and the organization” he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Why would that be ridicolous? I’m glad you like it, you’re good at it!” Tomoe said.

Alex shook his head, “you don’t really know how good I am, this is the first renovation you’ve done.”

“Doesn’t matter, I know you’re good at it. And t o hell with what your dad thinks, live your life! Work can fit in the work box and your other interests can fit in other boxes.” 

Alex sighed, “that helps to hear, Tomoe, thank you”. His smile sent electricity up her spine. 

“Now, what to look at some ideas I have for the bathroom configuration?” he asked. 

Alex was pulling out lumber from his truck and measuring out lengths for the interior walls to Tomoe’s bathroom when he heard a rumble of a vehicle moving down her gravel drive. He looked up to catch sight of Sebastian on his motorcycle.

Alex could feel his chest tighten as Sebastian swung his bike next to the house. He had seen the way Sebastian looked at Tomoe. He also saw Tomoe rebuff him the day Alex had brought the poppy bouquet. He know he wasn’t supposed to be eavesdropping but he was feeling itchy seeing how Sebastian watched her and he caught enough of their conversation to know what had happened. Still, he had no right to feel so protective. What had he gotten himself into?

Alex could hear the sound of gravel underneath boots getting closer to him as he methodically measured out the lengths he needed and marked the board with a pencil before tucking it behind his ear.

Sebastian cleared his throat, “do you, uh, know where Tommy is?”

Alex didn’t look up from his work, “did you try calling her?”

“Yes, I tried calling her, she didn’t pick up,” he said irritably. 

“Maybe she doesn’t want to be found then.” There was silence. Alex pulled the out tape measure for his next piece of lumber.

“So you’re really not going to tell me where she is?” Sebastian asked incredulously. 

Alex let the tape measure close with a snap before turning to face Sebastian, “Tomoe” he emphasized her name, “is busy, otherwise she would pick up her phone”. 

Sebastian glared at him, his face turning a deep red.

“You are such a dick, Alex. You already have Haley, why are you getting in my way? I don’t know why Tommy is even working with you.”

“I don’t have Haley, Seb, we aren’t dating and she’s not a thing to be had.”

“Whatever, you know what I fucking mean. Just stay out of it, will you? You’re not Tommy’s type anyway.”

“And what type is that, Sebby?” Alex asked with a mocking tone as he took a step towards Sebastian.

“What’s going on here?” Tomoe asked as she strode towards them, sweat making her hair cling to her forehead. Dammit, Alex hadn’t heard her walk up to them. She looked pissed. And beautiful with how her face flushed red in irritation.

“Where’s the four-wheeler?” Alex asked. 

“No no no, my question first, what is going on here?” she looked between Alex and Sebastian and back.

Sebastian had the sense to look sheepish, “Hey Tommy, just thought I’d swing by and ask you a question, I’ve been trying to call you all morning.”

“I know, I saw you called, I’ve been rushing to get some seed in the ground. Was gonna call you tonight” Tomoe crossed her arms and Alex looked smugly at Sebastian.

“Oh right, well, I was wondering if you might come with me to the luau tomorrow?” 

Tomoe waved a hand, “Lewis already asked me, bringing my pepper relish to add to the soup pot.” 

“Right” Sebastian’s face was beet red.

Tomoe laid her hand on Sebastian’s arm and Alex bristled, “thanks for coming all the way up here, sorry I didn’t respond to your calls, but I gotta get back to the fields. I’m looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.”

“I know you’re really busy trying to get the farm running,” Sebastian hugged her, looking over her shoulder at Alex. He glowered. A pang of jealousy and anger lit up his chest. Tomoe patted Sebastian’s back, “see you tomorrow, Tommy” Sebastian murmured before swinging his leg over his bike and revving the engine.

Alex and Tomoe watched him go, “why do you let him call you that?” he asked, still simmering with irritation.

She turned with a look of surprise, “what do you mean?”

“Tommy, why do you let him call you Tommy?” he repeated.

“I dunno, it just seemed easier than trying to keep correcting him.”

Alex chuckled and Tomoe grinned, “what?” she asked.

“I don’t think anything is easy with that guy.”

Tomoe punched him on the arm, “I’m trying, okay? I just want to have some friends around here and he can be fun to be around when he’s not—“

“—constantly asking you out?” Alex interrupted.

“Ha ha, laugh it up. I ran out of gas on the four wheeler so you’re gonna have to fill me up” she said, rolling her eyes. 

“I take it you’re not interested?” Alex asked, trying to sound casual and not desperately hopeful.

Tomoe stopped and looked up at him before making a face, “I should be, right? He’s handsome, has a job, seems interested in me . . .” Alex’s stomach dropped to his toes. 

Tomoe let out a breath, “no, I’m not interested, because I’m an antisocial hermit.”

Alex laughed, feeling light but keeping his expression neutral, “aww, you’re not a hermit, Daisy and I like you,” Daisy yipped at her name and came barreling off the porch. Tomoe leaned down to pet Daisy with a smile on her face. Alex could swear she was blushing. 

“Well I like you guys too, now help me get the four-wheeler, will you?” Tomoe asked with a spark in her eyes.


	9. Missing You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was a bit hard for me to write. I am curious what you think of how I wrote Haley's character. Thanks for all of the love and comments!

Alex bobbed up on the balls of his feet and glanced at the path from town leading to the beach for the twentieth time in the last five minutes. He had told himself over and over again that he was just friends with Tomoe, or really maybe just her contractor and not even a friend, but there was an energy in him, an impulse to catch a glimpse of her when she got to the beach. Ever since she confirmed she was coming to the luau he was looking forward to a time when he could see her outside of just working on her home reno. 

Haley poked his side, “who are you looking for anyway?”

“What?” he answered dumbly.

Haley rolled her eyes, “you’ve looked at the path a million times since we got here.”

He cleared his throat, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Just then Tomoe come rushing down the path with a jar of the pepper relish tucked under her arm. She was wearing that yellow sun dress she had worn to his grandparents’ house. His heart leapt into his throat. She was beautiful, short and curvy with her dark hair loose and cascading down her back. She was always beautiful, but when she was out of her work clothes she looked softer and his hands itched to touch her. _Get ahold of yourself, Mullner._

He realized he was starting and turned back to Haley, rubbing the back of his neck.

Haley had a slow smile that spread over her face, “isn’t she like, your boss?”

Alex groaned, “shut it.” 

Just then Tomoe saw them and made her way towards them. 

“Hey, Alex!” she beamed and his heart fluttered. She noticed Haley then, “good to see you, Haley”.

“Sure, farmer girl” Haley responded with a flip of her hair. Alex scowled at her. 

“Oh, well, I prefer if you call me, Tomoe, if that’s okay” Tomoe said.

Haley shrugged, “sure, if you’d like”. She looked down at the jar Tomoe was holding, “what is that?” she said, eyeing it suspiciously.

Tomoe held up the jar, “oh, this is a pepper relish I am trying out, I hope it would go good in the soup”. 

Haley frowned, “no offense, but that doesn’t sound very good, but I never eat the soup anyway.” 

Tomoe narrowed her eyes at Haley and turned towards Alex, looking at him as if she expected him to say something. 

“I’m, uh, sure it’ll be great” he said, fumbling over his words. 

Tomoe looked at him with disappointment. This was not going the way Alex had hoped at all. He felt paralyzed, unable to speak in the way he found them often chatting during the days when he was working out at her farm. He rubbed the back of his neck again nervously.

“Okay, well, I don’t think I’m really wanted here so, see you later, Alex” she said, an embarrassed flush on her cheeks. She turned and stalked off towards Sam, Abigail and Sebastian huddled near the dock.

“Jesus, Haley, put your claws away will you?” He snapped angrily as he watched her walk away.

Haley put her palms, “hey, I’m not the one whose so sensitive, I didn’t mean anything by it.” 

Alex glared at her. 

“Okay, maybe I’m just a little jealous that you’re so interested in her.”

“What for? You’re not interested in men anyways.”

“Shhhhhh! Not so loud” she looked around with panic. 

He held up his hands, “sorry. I just . . . I haven’t felt like this before. With anyone,” he looked down at his toes. He put his hands on her shoulders, “I’m sorry, I would never out you. I’m still your friend, always.”

She watched him and exhaled noisily through her nose, “fine, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize how bad you had it for her. Should I apologize to her for you?” 

He shook his head, “no, I have to dig myself out of this one on my own.” 

Haley crossed her arms over her chest and twirled a lock of blonde hair around her finger, “I’ve been thinking . . . about coming out anyways.”

“Really? You’re sure? What changed?” he asked.

“I actually told Emily this week” she answered, biting her lip.

“And?”

“And she took exactly how you thought she would. Patted my arm, said she always knew and then moved on as if nothing happened.”

“You seem annoyed,” he laughed.

She rolled her eyes, “a little, I built it up in my head. But when Elliott and Harvey moved to town and no one seemed to treat two out, gay men any differently, well, it felt like time to test the waters.”

Alex leaned down to wrap her in a hug, “I know you and Emily are very different but your sister will always love you and so will I.”

“I know I know” Haley said before pushing him away, “now go talk to her” she said, pushing him towards Tomoe.

He waited until he saw Tomoe peel off from the group and head towards the buffet table before he went to her. 

“I’m sorry about how Haley acted—“ he began. 

Tomoe raised her hand, “save it, Alex. You keep reminding me that Sebastian calls me Tommy, but you can’t be bothered to correct your girlfriend? Kinda seems like you’re embarrassed of me” 

“It’s not like that, Tomoe, and Haley isn’t my girlfriend.”

Tomoe exhaled, “It’s not my business anyways. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m trying to catch Lewis to give him the relish,” she moved to walk past him, but Alex stepped in her path. 

Alex’s stomach dropped, “I’m sorry, Tomoe, can we please just talk?”

A smile touched the corner of her lips, but it didn’t reach her eyes, “I’ll see you later, Alex.” she said as she moved past. Alex fisted his hair and saw Sebastian watching them with a smile on his face. Alex repressed the desire to flick him off. _Good job, Mullner, you really fucked that up._


	10. The Beach

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: mention of death. 
> 
> NSFW: Also there are sexy times in this chapter and this is my first attempt at that so I am super interested in your thoughts!

It had been a couple of days since the luau and things between Tomoe and Alex had been cordial, but cold. They only said what they needed to for the renovation to keep moving along. It looked like maybe the bathroom would be done and ready for use in the next week or two. 

It had been dumb for Tomoe to hope for anything with Alex other than a business relationship. It seemed for a while that maybe they could be friends and Tomoe’s traitor heart pushed her to wish for more, watching his long, lean frame putting up the frame and fitting out the bathroom. He was funny when he opened up and fun to be around, but now he was back to the type A Alex. 

She wanted to say something after their argument at the luau. It seemed like maybe leading up to that day things had been going really well. They spent a couple of evenings since talking and resting after a hard day. She thought maybe she had seen something in those looks he gave her, but when he came back to work after the luau he was all business so she let it drop. 

Today Alex had told her he wouldn’t be at work and Tomoe spent the day brooding. She got through her morning chores and was sitting at her kitchen table sipping some tea when a knock sounded at her front door.

Tomoe frowned and went to open it. Haley stood on her front step.

“What are you doing here?” Tomoe asked before she could stop herself. 

“Okay, first of all, rude. And second, I’m here to apologize for the other day.” 

Tomoe crossed her arms, “okay?”

Haley sighed. “Look, I would’ve said something sooner, but Alex wanted to take care of it. From the looks of things, I’m guessing Alex is too proud and you’re too stubborn—“

“Hey!” Tomoe exclaimed.

“—and I think Alex could use a friend today. I know I was mean to you and I’m sorry. And I know it probably hurt when Alex didn’t say something. I just want you to know that underneath it all, he’s a really good guy.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Tomoe asked.

“Can you keep a secret?”

Tomoe was confused, “what does that have to do with anything?”

“Just yes or no,” Haley insisted.

“Yes, okay, sure, I can keep a secret,” Tomoe answered irritably. 

Haley blew out a breath, “in high school Alex covered for me when I really needed it.”

Tomoe waited for her to continue.

“I had a crush on one of the other gymnasts in high school and I wrote a poem about and her name happened to be Alex. Some others found it and our Alex pretended it was for him instead. There were some really nasty people at our school who bullied other people who came out and he knew I was really scared.”

Tomoe wasn’t sure what she expected but it sure wasn’t that.

“So . . . Alex covered for you so you weren’t outed.”

“Yes.” Haley took a deep breath and looked up at the sky.

“That’s . . . really sweet of him” Tomoe said, a bit shocked at the turn the conversation went.

“I know and he could really use a friend. He’s down at the beach, will you go see him?” She asked.

—

Tomoe saw him as soon as she rounded the corner of the path towards the beach. His broad shoulders were hunched over as he sat in the sand with his arms draped across his knees. 

She came up behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder. He jumped and quickly turned his head away from her.

“Shit, Tomoe,” his voice was raw and she noticed his eyes were red-rimmed before he turned away. He had been crying.

She flopped down next to him, “Haley came to see me, said you could use a friend.”

He released a shuddering breath, “yea, something like that.”

Tomoe leaned her head on his shoulder and just watched the waves while he gulped air. 

“Don’t you . . . want to know what’s wrong?” he asked.

Tomoe shrugged, “up to you, but I’m sorry whatever it is.”

He reached down between his knees and grabbed a wooden box and handed to her, “open it” he sniffed.

She opened the lid and saw a picture taped to the top of a young Alex with a beautiful woman who had to be his mother.

“She had a kind soul, didn’t she?” she asked, running her finger over the faces on the photo. 

Alex choked out a sob before stopping again, “today is the anniversary of her death.”

“Oh, Alex” Tomoe cooed before wrapping her arms around him. He cried fully then, hiccuping breaths and messy tears sliding down his cheeks. vAfter a while his breath evened out and he pushed himself back up. 

“I’m sorry to do that in front of you,” he said without meeting her eyes.

“Don’t be, please, sometimes we just need someone to sit with us in our mess” Tomoe said.

He looked at her then, his dark eyes shiny from tears and deep with gratitude and something else she couldn’t quite place. Her heart fluttered before she looked away. 

“Look, Alex, I think I’m being the prideful one and I’m sorry. I may have . . . overreacted at the luau.”

“Jesus, us with our apologies” Alex said, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.

Tomoe smiled. Alex held her gaze and she reached up to cup his cheek before pausing and dropping her had. “I would like Alex my friend and not just my contractor back, if that’s okay.”

Alex nodded and Tomoe felt herself falling. 

\--

Alex rolled over and turned his phone on. It was 4:30 in the morning. He exhaled sharply and rubbed his hand over his face. His heart thundered in his chest. He couldn’t get Tomoe out of his head. He could still feel her head on his shoulder when they sat together at the beach and his skin tingled with the memory. He was done with whatever bullshit they had been kicking around between them. No more pushing her away or pretending that friendship was enough. She stirred something deep in his chest and he shared things with her he hadn’t shared with anyone. She was his safe harbor and he was greedy. He wanted more than work and friendly chatter. He wanted all of her. 

He rolled out of bed and went down the hall to the bathroom, careful to move as quietly as possible so as to not disturb his grandparents. After showering and brushing his teeth, he pulled on a pair of jeans that hung low on his hips and a tight black undershirt. A glance in the mirror showed a five o’clock shadow dusting his chin and dark circles under his eyes from staying up half the night. He ruffled his hair, mulling if he should shave, but decided he couldn’t wait any longer.

—

Alex pulled up her drive at close to six in the morning. He hoped to catch her on her way back from watering the fields. Christ he was nervous, his blood was thundering in his ears. He hopped out of the truck and paced, debating if he should knock on her door or hope she was still out in the fields.

Just then he heard the rumble of the four-wheeler and he turned to see her pull up. A frown creased her forehead when she saw him standing there. Her raven dark hair was pulled up high on her head in a messy bun and she wore a black tank that clung to her in ways he kept tracing with his eyes. Seeing her was both a balm to his longing and a spark to his fear—what if she rejected him? 

“Is everything okay, Alex?” she asked.

He walked towards her, stopping only when he was close enough to the warmth from her skin. He peered down into her eyes, “no.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked, startled.

He gave her a small smile and reached a thumb to smooth out the line between her eyebrows. She stilled and watched him intently.

He gave his head a small shake, “you asked yesterday if I could be friends, I don’t want to be friends, Tomoe.” 

“Oh” she said quietly.

Alex traced a fingernail along her arm, “I want all of you, whatever you’ll give me.”

Tomoe blinked.

Alex watched her, “I would like to kiss you now” 

Tomoe shivered and leaned in towards him, “wh-what?”

“Tomoe, do you want me to kiss you?” he asked in a low voice.

She watched him for a moment, the pupils in her eyes wide and swallowing up her irises, “y-yes.”

Alex bent down and caught her lips. He meant to be gentle, to draw out the kiss, but as soon as he tasted her he felt a jolt run down his spine and settle in his groin. She moaned into his mouth and he swallowed the noise, brushing her lips with his tongue. She opened up for him and he slipped in, moaning at her taste and the velvet of her mouth.

She pulled away to take several ragged breaths and he took the moment to taste the skin on her throat. She shivered and ran her hands along his arms and back. “Alex, take me to bed,” she said in between the wet sounds of his kisses along her throat. Her statement sent his head buzzing and he cupped her ass to lift her up on his hips. She wrapped her thighs around his waist while leaning down to taste him again. He could feel her vibrating with energy and straining to tase more of him while he walked them up her porch against her front door.

He reached fingertips underneath the hem of her tank top to feel her heated, satin skin. Tomoe murmured a deep throated sound while reaching along the door, feeling for the door handle. She growled in frustration until there was a click and they stumbled through the threshold.

Alex dropped her on the bed and she scrambled forward on her knees in front of him. Her eyes were glassy and black with desire. She bit her bottom lip and reached out her slender fingers to wrap around the hem of his shirt, “I’ve been wanting to see more of you since I moved here,” her eyes sparkled as she pulled at the fabric. 

He gripped the hem and pulled his shirt in a swift jerk up and over his head, tossing it to the side. She sat motionless for several beats before whispering, “beautiful.”

“Mmm” he grunted. 

Tomoe lifted her eyes to his, “you are and you’re more beautiful now that I know this” she said as she laid her hand on his chest over his heart. He laid his hand on top of hers, studying the curve of her lips and the shape of her eyes before leaning down and tasting her again. 

“You trying to butter me up?” he murmured against her lips and she huffed a laugh before he ran his hands under her shirt and the band of her sports bra to cup her breasts. She sucked in a sharp breath and arched her back into his hands as he ran his palms over her nipples, he revealed in the drag of them against his skin. He pressed his hips down on hers, working his knee in between her thighs. When his knee brushed the cleft of her thighs, she arched right off the bed, biting his bottom lip and moaning. 

“Fuck, Alex” she yelped with lidded eyes, pressing her head back into the pillows. He grinned at her before pushing his knee again and watched her face gloss over with pleasure. 

He stood up off the bed and grabbed the bottoms of her leggings, yanking hard before moving to take off his own. Then he watched her, breath ragged, taking in her soft curves and writhing hips. 

“Now, Alex, please” she said, breaking into his revelry. He reached into the back pocket of his discarded jeans to pull out a condom and tucked it between his teeth before crawling back up over her body. 

“Fuck, you’re sexy” she whispered, reaching a hand into her hair. He ripped open the wrapper and worked it down his cock before reaching back down to run his hands over her stomach.

“You ready, love?” he asked.

She smiled slowly, “what?”

“You ready?” he repeated.

“No, what did you call me?” she repeated with a grin.

“Mmmm, love?”

“Yeees” she hissed, “now, please.”

He leaned over, lining himself up with her entrance, feeling her heat shoot through him into his fingers and toes, “I love it when you beg” and then he sank into her.

Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she dug her heels into the bed as he sank. He bit back a moan and memorized the slack of her mouth open in pleasure. When he was fully seated, he took a deep breath, willing his heart to slow and trying to concentrate on her so it didn’t end too soon.

Tomoe opened her eyes to look at him, running her hands up and down his arms, “you okay?”

“I’m perfect” he said and began to move. Soon they found a rhythm, she rose up to meet his thrusts and wrapped her legs around his hips, hooking her ankles together. 

“Oh god, this is better than I dreamed,” she said, breasts bouncing with each thrust. 

He leaned down to nip at her neck, “you dreamed of me?” 

She nodded, “since I met you”.

He leaned up on his arms to watch her as he moved. She turned and bit the sheets, clenching her hands as they moved. Alex lifted one of her legs on his shoulder and turned his head to plant open-mouthed kisses along her calf. He was close, but he needed her to join him. 

Suddenly her walls started to flutter around him and the bottom of his stomach started to clench. He licked a thumb and brought it down to rub her little bundle of nerves and she cried out, bowing her back off of the bed. He shouted and joined her in tumbling off of the cliff.


	11. A Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW: More sexy times and fluff! The drama starts back up in the next chapter.

Tomoe awoke to a warm weight draped across her waist, the morning light flooding her room. She turned to find a still sleeping Alex, her sheet loosely covering his hips and his thickly muscled chest bathed in sunlight. She snuggled into him, smelling the skin on his neck, memorizing the feeling of him in her bed, wrapped around her, his breaths long and deep. He was so much taller and bigger than her and his weight pressed down deep into her mattress, pulling her body into his. 

“Hi,” he murmured against her forehead.

She tilted her face to look into his dark eyes, the color of honey and soil in light. “Hi,” she said, not being able to help the smile that spread across her face. “Did we really just do that?” she asked.

He grinned at her, “I think we did” he answered, leaning down to kiss her softly. 

Tomoe lost herself in the kiss until it changed from slow and gentle to heated. She pulled away, “what do we do now?”

Alex watched her with dark eyes, running his hands up and down her arm, “I was hoping a little more of what we had been” and he moved to capture her mouth with his.

Tomoe held up a hand on his lips, “wait, Alex” and she mentally kicked herself for not just falling into his touch. He was intoxicating, his bronzed skin and hard muscles, the planes of his chest slightly furry with tight brown curls of hair, the path of the hair on his stomach leading down to the most delicious parts of him. 

He growled but stilled, watching her with glittering eyes and pupils blown with desire. 

She closed her eyes to avoid being sucked back into his pull, “I’ve done one night stands before, Alex and I need to be honest, I want more than that with you. It’s not fair of me to ask, but there it is . . . and we are supposed to be working with each other,”

Alex reached to cup her cheeks, the callouses of his fingers sending jolts down to her groin, “look at me” she did, “we’ll figure it out as we go, I don’t know what I’m doing either, but I want as much as you’ll give me” he titled his chin to meet her eyes.

His gaze flicked back and forth between her eyes, and she felt her heart fill her chest. She had been burned before and when she moved to Pelican Town she had no intention of doing anything beyond building her farm and getting to know the residents. Yet here she was, with the most beautiful man she had ever met who she initially hated now here in her bed. 

Tomoe surged forward to capture his lips, pulling his bottom lip in between her teeth and nipping. She was rewarded with a growl rumbling deep in his chest that sent jolts of electricity licking up her spine. Pleasure coiled deep in her stomach as she hooked a leg around his hip and pushed him onto his back. His warm hands slid around her waist and up her back, tugging on her hair to pull her head back and bare her neck to his teeth. She moved her hips and he hissed before pushing up to sit and cupping her breasts.

He lavished her neck with nips and kisses while she moaned and angled herself to brush her pussy on his waist, her legs wrapped around him. Tomoe ran her hands through his soft brown hair, pushing her breasts harder into his hands as he teased the nipple of her left breast, pinching it between a thumb and forefinger. She trembled before pressing him back down into the mattress, “slow down, I want you inside before I finish.”

He huffed a laugh but flopped back down onto the mattress before she hopped off the bed and rooted around for his jeans, pulling out another condom from his back pocket. She looked back towards the bed to find him watching her, “someone came prepared” she said. He grinned, but before he could answer she climbed back over him and began to roll the condom over his already hard cock. He sucked in a breath, eyes rolling backward and fists grabbing handfuls of sheet on either side of her hips.

She angled him at her entrance, stilling to watch the strain in his face, “Alex, look at me” she said. When his dark eyes found hers, she sank down.

“Fuuuck” he moaned, grabbing her waist and snapping his hips up to meet her movements. Tomoe gasped and balanced herself with her hands on his chest. They matched each others rhythm until she could feel herself teetering on the edge. He rose up and wrapped his arm around her, taking over the rhythm and pressing his chest flush to hers. Her head lolled back as he leaned forward, biting down on her neck just as she tipped over the edge. As she rode the waves of pleasure, she felt him pick up his pace until he fell over the edge with her.

—

When Tomoe came out of her stupor, she peered at the digital clock on her nightstand to see that it was already 10AM. 

“Shit, I still need to take care of the chickens” she said, leaning over to kiss Alex before kicking off the blankets and making her way over to her makeshift mirror and washstand. 

As she washed and grabbed a clean set of clothes, Alex came up behind her, watching her move in the mirror and pressing a finger at the hickey on her neck.

Shivers of pleasure ran through her before she swatted away his hand, “if you don’t stop that, I won’t get out of here all day.”

He leaned forward to kiss her neck, “that sounds like a good day to me.”

“And what will you do when all of the chickens die of starvation and the crops rot in the ground” she said, careful not to meet his eyes in the mirror lest her resolve completely wash away.

“Mmm” he said between lazy kisses, “buy you new chickens”.

Tomoe gasped, “Alex!” she exclaimed. He grinned at her, but straightened and grabbed a hairbrush, calmly untangling her long hair and running in through gently. 

“What are you doing?” she asked, curious at his movements.

The corner of his mouth curved into a smile, “I’m braiding your hair, I used to do that to my mom’s all the time,” he answered.

“Who are you right now?” Tomoe asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Right now?” he asked, meeting her eyes in the mirror, “yours.”


	12. Setbacks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for everyone reading and for the comments and kudos! It's been really fun to dip my toe in the water. 
> 
> This chapter is safe for work, not sexy times this go around. 
> 
> I am also so curious to know how much of a villain Sebastian should be. Let me know!

It had been several weeks since the beach and Alex has somehow managed to stay on schedule despite the all the time he was spending with Tomoe decidedly *not* working. The bathroom had gone up separately before he knocked down the wall of the original structure but today was the day of the big reveal. Sure, tiles and drywall still needed to go up, but she could actually start using the plumbing while he finished the interior.

Alex had butterflies in his stomach all day while he worked. This was his first major contracting job and he was also sleeping with his client. He winced at the thought. Some corner of his brain was convinced he was fucking this whole thing up—his career and his love life. But every glimpse Alex got of Tomoe throughout the day had his heart in his throat. She was a force of nature, whirling about the farm with confidence and strength, pieces of her raven hair falling out of her bun into her face, sweat collecting under her ears and around her neck. If he were to tell high school Alex that he would become a nervous puddle around someone, he would’ve scoffed. And yet she had this energy that gave him comfort. Made him feel like if he was just near her she would make everything work, including his own shit, just by the force of her will. 

He heard a rap of knuckles on the wall behind him.

“Wait, don’t come in yet!” he called, “just give me a minute.”

“Don’t worry! I won’t ruin your surprise” Tomoe said.

Alex edged out of the new bathroom, pushing the tarp that covered the doorway to the rest of the house out of the way. He rubbed the back of his neck, his nervous energy collecting in the pit of his stomach.

Tomoe walked up to him and gently tugged his hand down from behind his neck, “hey, don’t be nervous, I finally have working plumbing!” she grinned at him. 

He placed his hands on her shoulders, leaned down to kiss her cheek and then spun her towards the bathroom, “here goes nothing” he muttered.

He pulled the tarp to the side and Tomoe gasped.

“I know, I don’t have the drywall up yet, but I wanted you to be able to use it while I put up the finishes—“ his words tumbled together.

“Alex, is the floor warm?” she asked.

“Y-yes. I had an idea to run radiant flooring through the polished concrete so you it could be warm in the winter but the price is the same, otherwise I wouldn’t have done it.”

Tomoe spun around with her heart in her eyes, “you’re amazing!” she said before turning back around and hoping over to the sink to turn the knob. Water came pouring out and she ran her hands back and forth through the spray, “I have water!” she exclaimed before turning back and throwing her arms around his neck.

Alex let out the breath he had been holding and pulled her tight against him. “I am so relieved you like it” he said into her hair.

“Of course I do” she said before leaning back to kiss him soundly.

Just then a knock sounded from her front door. Alex growled and pulled Tomoe tighter to his chest. She moaned and melted into his arms before a second knock sounded.  
She pushed gently at his chest and he stepped back, “are you expecting company?” he asked.

Tomoe shook her head, “No, let me see who it is and I will send them on their way” she said.

She opened the front door, “Sebastian? What are you doing her?” she asked in surprise, keeping her body in front of the threshold.

“Hey Tomoe, the gang’s missed you” he said, leaning into hug her. Tomoe leaned back and some animal part of Alex burned hot in anger and possessiveness. 

“We haven’t seen you the last two Fridays, I was hoping to catch you and see if you wanted to go tomorrow night” Sebastian continued, standing awkwardly on her porch. 

Alex came up behind Tomoe and leaned down to kiss her on the neck before looking up at Sebastian, “we’re a little busy, Seb” he bit out.

Sebastian’s eyes narrowed, “what’s going on, Tomoe?”

Tomoe whipped her head around and glared at Alex. He stepped back in surprise.

“Nothing Seb, just, just tell the others I will see them next week.” Tomoe said.

Sebastian looked between them and threw up his hands, “yeah, whatever, see you around Tomoe, whenever Alex fucking Mullner gets tired of you.”

“Ain’t gonna happen” Alex snapped, but Sebastian was already walking angrily towards his bike.

“What the hell was that, Alex?” Tomoe asked, her eyes bright with anger.

“What do you mean, ‘what the hell was that’? You told me this wasn’t a one night stand that this meant something,” he replied, gesturing between them. 

“I did, I do, but I’m not a piece of meat. You can keep whatever alpha male bullshit that was away from me.” she bit back, crossing her arms tightly across her chest.

Alex fisted his hair, “what do you want me to do, Tomoe? Seb clearly wants you, do you want me to just let that happen?”

She groaned, “no, I mean, I don’t know what I want, but I don’t want you coming over to mark your damn territory or whatever.”

Alex’s stomach dropped into his toes, “you don’t know what you want” he repeated quietly.

“Shit this is all coming out wrong, I mean, you’re gorgeous, we have great sex—“ 

“So I’m just a pretty face?” he asked, the hurt and disappointment streaking through his chest.

“No, NO. That’s not what I mean, Alex, just listen for a minute—“ Tomoe’s face was flushed red and she reached for his hand.

Alex pulled away and headed for the door, “see you Monday, Tomoe, I need to clear my head.” Alex grabbed his shoes by the front door and walked in his socks to his truck, feeling the hurt, confusion and rejection swirling together inside his chest. He just needed to get the fuck out of there.

“Wait, Alex!” Tomoe called, but he didn’t look back. He told himself not to get involved with anyone, that people would always be let down by him or they would let him down, likely both. He let some spark of hope burn these last couple of months and now he felt like a fool.


	13. Deeper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sebastian is a real jerk in this chapter, he does mention "friend zone" which is a part of rape culture, FYI. That kind of talk is not okay y'all!

Tomoe yawned for what felt like the hundredth time since she woke up. She was up half the night sending futile texts to Alex, apologizing and hoping he would respond which, of course, he didn’t. So here she was, moving around the farm like a zombie, buzzing with anxiety that she had screwed up one of the first times she felt a connection with someone in a while. Of course she had mucked it all up, reacting out of anger and in the moment, wanting to inflict some pain because she was afraid. 

Alex was the opposite of anyone she had dated before: cocky, athletic, conventionally handsome and she had fallen for him in just a couple of weeks. Her heart felt tethered to him, full to bursting with his smiles and touches and compliments. And the littlest details seemed to set off butterflies in her chest. How he lined up his shoes neatly by her door, the way he remembered where she kept her things, his soft humming while he worked. She was afraid to feel like this. Taking over her grandfather's farm was supposed to be her time to put her stake in the ground and be independent and here she was starting to fall in love instead. _Listen to yourself, Tomoe, falling in love and you fucked it up already._

At the end of her morning chores she went down towards the pond south of her land, rooting around to find the tuft of poppies tucked by the pier. She pulled out the brightest bloom and made her way to town. She just wanted a chance to apologize. To let him know she was sorry she pushed him away, that she was afraid. It might be too late, but damnit she was going to try.

—

She knocked at the Mullner’s just before dinner. Evie answered the door.

“Tomoe, hello dear, how are you?” She asked,.

“Hi Evie, I won’t keep you long, just wanted to drop off this for Alex” Tomoe said, handing her the flower with her note tied to it.

“I will get it to him when he gets back” Evie said, looking at Tomoe with a glint in her eyes. “Just give him a little time, dear” Evie patted her hand and Tomoe turned to go. 

Alex’s truck was in the driveway so Tomoe assumed he was home, but didn’t want to see her. Shit. Tomoe’s nerves were a wreck and she needed a drink. Maybe she would swing by the Saloon after all to see if Sebastian, Sam and Abigail would let her join them for the Friday night pool games.

—

When Tomoe got to the Stardrop she saw them in their typical corner near the pool table. She made her way over, waving sheepishly. Abigail waved back with a nervous energy that set Tomoe on edge.

Sebastian scowled at her, “well look who’s here, was your boy busy tonight so you thought you could use us to keep you entertained?” Tomoe’s body went cold. Of all the bad impulses she had over the last two days, coming here was clearly the worst.

Sam touched Sebastian’s arm, “calm down, Seb” he murmured.

Sebastian shrugged him off, “I’m tired of being in the friend zone with her” he said to Sam, “being used to help around the farm or whatever just to be brushed aside for a fucking jock.”

Tomoe crossed her arms, “really, Seb?” 

“Don’t call me that” he growled.

Tomoe felt her ears ring, heat spreading from her head down into her chest.

“Don’t call you that? At least it’s a short version of your fucking name. Tommy is not my name. I told you have again and again after I moved back here. My name is Tomoe. It’s Japanese. I’m fucking part Japanese. Figure it out,” Tomoe felt her voice rising and Sam and Abigail looked at her in surprise. 

“I have told I am not interested in you romantically, Seb. You are the one who keeps barking up that tree. As for the farm help, I never asked you to do it in exchange for sex, I asked you to help as a friend. If you thought you would get sex and a date out of it, that is your. fucking. problem.” Tomoe could feel people from the bar starting to notice.

Abigail took a step forward, “everyone just calm down.”

Tomoe look towards her, about to lash out but seeing the nervousness in Abigail’s face put a little water on her rage. She dropped her hands and turned on her heel to go. 

“Seb, what the hell?” Tomoe heard Sam ask as she yanked open the door to leave.

—

Tomoe practically ran from town, tears stinging at the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill over. She didn’t have a destination in mind, just needed to get away as quickly as possible. What the hell just happened? She went from a group of people she thought were friends and a boyfriend (could she call Alex her boyfriend?) to no one in almost no time. She really misjudged Sebastian. She assumed he was just persistent, not bitter and a misogynist. 

She found herself at the pond she found the poppy at before and she headed towards the pier, tears having finally spilled over. 

“Tomoe?” a deep voice asked.

Tomoe looked up to find Alex with a little more than a five o’clock shadow at the end of the dock.

“I, uh, got your note” he continued, “are you . . . okay?” he asked, moving hesitantly towards her.

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, “Alex, I’m so fucking sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean you’re just a pretty face. I was afraid of how I feel for you and I shoved my foot so far down my mouth I can’t—“ 

He put his finger on her lips, “I know, I read your note, remember? It’s okay, you don’t need to cry over me” he said, wiping her tears with his thumb.

She gave him a watery smile, “it’s not just that, although I am so happy you’re here. It’s Sebastian. We had an argument at the saloon. I didn't realize until tonight he has no interest in being friends, he just wants to get in my pants”.

Alex stilled, “fuckface.”

Tomoe huffed out a laugh, “can I have a hug?” she asked.

“Of course, sweetheart” Alex replied, wrapping her tightly in his strong arms. 

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Tomoe said snuggling into his arms. 

Alex held her tightly for a moment before leaning back to look in her eyes, “I am . . . sensitive about how people see me. When I was trying to go pro, it was all about my body and fitness. People would assume I was vapid. I don’t want you to just like me for my looks, I want you to like all of me.”

Tomoe reached up to cup his cheek, “I like all of you, Alex. The more time I spend with you the more I like of you. You pay attention to things, you know where everything should go. You’re smart” he snorted, “you are! You are also funny and kind to me. And you’re loyal to those you love.”

Alex rested his forehead on hers, “thank you.” 

Tomoe leaned up to kiss him, “Alex, take me home.”


	14. Small town gossip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW chapter.
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me all, the last chapter wasn't initially proofread well, but should be better now.

“Alex?” Tomoe asked, her legs across his lap as they sat on her porch after a hard day’s work.

“Mmmm?” he hummed, taking a sip of his iced tea and running his hand down her calf.

“I think I want to invite your grandma and grandpa to Sunday lunch here this weekend. Now that I have a working kitchen and bathroom,” she said. Alex had quickly finished the interior of the bathroom and fitted out the kitchen with a stove and refrigerator. The hard part of the project was getting the plumbing lines and electrical installed and with that done, the rest of the house expansion followed. The big project now was the greenhouse. 

“Sounds good” Alex replied with eyes closed, enjoying the rest after a hard day in humid summer air. 

“Good, that’s good . . .” Tomoe trailed off and Alex cracked an eye open to peer at her. She was looking out across the field, running her fingers through the hair she had just taken down from her bun. 

“What’s on your mind, sweetheart?” Alex asked. She turned to look at him, her eyes glittering.

“I like it when you call me that. Never thought I would want a man to call me sweetheart” she said, holding his gaze. 

“Mmmm, you didn’t really answer my question” he said, running a finger up her leg and circling the back of her knee.

She exhaled slowly, “do you think they will want to come?” she asked.

He kept caressing the soft skin, watching her shiver, “of course, they love you” he murmured.

She closed her eyes and hummed before wrapping her hand around his, “stop that, I can’t think when you do that.”

“That was kinda my point. You’re overthinking this. Ever since Sebastian said those things to you, you’re worried everyone in this town is about to turn on you,” he said.  
“Well, not you,” Tomoe responded without meeting his eyes.

“My grandparents love you and so does Harvey,” he said, but she was still nervously twisting bits of her hair around her finger, “Haley loves you now too.” Tomoe huffed a laugh, “no, I’m serious, she’s in your corner,” he said. 

He leaned forward and put a finger under her chin, tipping her face until she looked at him.

“Hey. Where’s the confident Tomoe I’m used to? If they don’t know what an ass Seb’s been to you they will either figure it out or they’re not worth it,” he said softly.

Tomoe watched him and then nodded slowly, “I know, I’m just not used to small town talk. Makes me wonder if I will really belong here.” 

“Of course you do,” he said.

“So says the town’s prodigal son. It’s not like you’ve bothered to make friends here” she said then winced, “that didn’t come out well.”

He shook his head, “you’re not wrong. I know I can talk a big game, but in this case I honestly did stop caring about the small town chatter.”

She exhaled, “you’re right, I know. How very prissy of me to be so bothered by it.”

He smiled, “I like it when you tell me these things.”

She smiled back, “I like it too, actually,” running her hands up his arms. He watched her, enjoying the way her skin glowed in the summer evening light and the soft fall of her hair across her shoulders.

He leaned in, watching her mouth, “can I show you where I think you belong?” he asked. 

She looked at him, mouth parted, her eyes dark, “yes.”

He swooped down and took her mouth with his, cupping the back of her head with his hand. Her mouth was hot and insistent and she sucked his bottom lip in between her teeth, biting it gently before pushing her tongue into his mouth. He grabbed her hips and pulled her on his lap, running his hands down her thighs and sighing into her mouth. 

She broke the kiss to take a breath and he ran his tongue down her throat, tasting bits of salt from where her sweat from the day’s work had pooled and dried. She shivered under his touch, gripping his hair and holding his head to her throat. He dipped his tongue into the hollow of her throat and she moaned, the sound vibrating into his mouth. He broke away then, leaning back to watch her, traveling the length of her with his eyes. 

Tomoe opened her eyes and shifted so that she lined up over the length of him and he gripped her hips, holding her there so she could feel him already hard through their layers of clothes. He leaned back in to capture her lips again, pulling her flush against his chest and tasting every inch of her mouth. 

Tomoe dropped her hands to his waist, running her fingers under the hem of his shirt, sending little waves of pleasure pooling in his stomach as she moved her hips gently on his lap. Before he could tell himself to slow down, he pushed his hands under her shirt and cupped her breasts, pinching her nipples and swallowing her moans.

She fumbled with the buckle of his jeans then and he broke away to look into her hooded eyes, “Tomoe, what are you doing?”

She grinned, “what do you think I”m doing?” she asked with a pleasure-thick tongue.

“O-outside?” he asked in between sharp breaths. 

She nodded before capturing his mouth again and he groaned.

“Condoms are in the house” he moaned, running his thumbs over her nipples.

“Alex, I got an IUD placed yesterday,” she said and he pulled back to look at her.

“Are you saying what I think you are?” he asked and she nodded, biting her bottom lip, sending shivers down his spine.

Alex tugged at her shorts and panties then, pulling them down over her knees and tossing them across the porch. She grabbed him and lined him up with her entrance.

“Okay, Alex?” She asked, hovering over him, he nodded, curling his hands around her waist, feeling the slick heat of her on the head of his cock. 

She sank down slowly and he let out a strangled moan. She was wet velvet, clenching every ridge of him. 

“Oh fuck” he murmured, biting down on her throat.

“You feel so good,” she choked as she picked up the pace. 

He held her tight with his arm wrapped around her waist, hand gripping her hair as they moved together. The sounds of her pleasure seemed to echo louder and the awareness of being outside sent shocks of excitement and fear through his veins. Tomoe put her hands on his shoulders and looked at him with dark eyes, glossy with pleasure. As she rode him, he matched her pace, snapping his hips as they rode higher on their journey up towards the edge. A deep, magnetic feeling started to build in his chest. It was more than just pleasure, it seemed to push out everything else in him to the side until his whole world filled with it. Having her here in his arms made him dizzy with giddiness.

Before he could puzzle out the feeling, he felt her trembling around him and he tumbled off the cliff with her.


	15. Storm on the horizon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your kudos and comments are always so motivating, thank you for the feedback! Some fluff before the drama picks back up.

Tomoe woke up before dawn as usual to water the crops and do her morning chores. Today was Sunday and the day which she was going to host her first guests since Alex finished the bathroom. He had come over the night before, promising to help her finish painting and preparing for the day and she left him in her bed, weighing down its center and keeping it warm. 

She got back when the sun was up and warming the earth, but before it was sweltering and washed in her new shower, marveling at how living for months without temperature control and pressure could change her definition of extravagance so immensely. After thoroughly fogging up the bathroom, she toweled off and threw on her cotton bath robe, padding out only to find a steaming mug of black tea sitting on her table and a languid Alex sprawled out on her floor and rubbing Daisy’s stomach as she lay on her back, paws akimbo. 

“I heard you in the shower, wanted to wake up with you to help with the crops but you snuck away without waking me,” he stifled a yawn. 

Tomoe sat at the same, leaning forward to inhale the tendrils of steam rising from her cup and taking in the dark, smoky scent of the tea, “I didn’t want to wake you, I don’t mind the work. I like watching the valley at dawn.”

Alex grunted, rolling onto his back and reaching out a hand to capture her foot. He pressed his thumb into her insole and hummed an incoherent melody while she sipped from her mug. 

“I’ve been too reckless with you,” Alex said. Tomoe looked up from where her thoughts have been floating, drifting into daydreams and soft nothings to find him watching her with sharp, intense eyes. 

“No, I love everything that we do,” she said, her brow furrowing. 

Alex rolled onto his knees and placed a hand on her chest over her heart which fluttered at his touch, “no, I mean here.” He grabbed her hips with warm palms and pulled her onto his lap, running his hands up and down her arms. 

“I’ve been too stingy with my thoughts. It’s like I was a tree planted in a cave, using all of the energy I had to grow what little I could and you came and burst a hole in the earth to let the sun flood in.” He leaned back to look at her, threading his fingers into her hair and gripping the nape of her neck.

Tomoe ran her fingers over the stubble on his chin, feeling the pleasant burn of it rasp against her fingertips. He leaned into the touch and closed his eyes, “I don’t know how to say this—“ he began but she placed her fingertips on his lips and shook her head. 

“You don’t have to bare your soul, Alex, there’s no rush,” but her heart fluttered against her ribs, filling up with his words.

“No, I want to. I don’t want to be stunted this way. It’s like with my dad I forgot how to feel things and then you came and I wanted you. We met at Pierre’s and I tried to impress you with the only thing I thought mattered to people, but I could tell you saw through me and of course you had to make friends with my grandma and grandpa,” he laughed. 

“And then I had another chance and you are like no one I’ve met before, always moving and doing and willing the world around you to just work. I’ve always been afraid underneath all of my shit and you saw that right away. Both terrifying and like gravity,” Alex was flushed with his confession. He leaned in to smell her throat, avoiding her eyes and breathing a bit faster than usual. 

Tomoe felt her skin prickling with excitement. She felt vertigo, falling towards something powerful and deep and with the power to cut and hurt. She ran her hands up and down his back.

Alex finally pulled away to study her, his brown eyes dark and open, running the pad of his thumb along her jaw, “sorry that I just threw that at your feet, I know we’ve only just started seeing each other, but . . . I want to try. I need to try being honest with you and . . . myself.”

Tomoe nodded, “thank you” she whispered, opening her mouth to pull his thumb in and nip at it. “I’m not sure where we go, but I want to try with you” he watched her for a moment before leaning in and kissing her, moving languidly and without heat, but dripping with meaning. 

—  
To her delight, brunch went well. Alex was right, his grandparents loved the house, loved being there and Tomoe tried to unpick the knot that had worked its way into her chest that made her worry in the first place. 

It was after brunch, when they sat on the porch, watching a summer thunderstorm roll in and feeling the cool breeze whip around them that it came to her.

“Alex” she said, he peered down at her, pausing in running his fingers through her hair. She turned and leaned up on her elbow, “I think I’ve faced down my last doubts of moving here.” 

He leaned forward to taste the patch of skin under her ear, “that sounds good, sweetheart.”

She held him to her throat, humming as he nipped, “I mean, I was always focused on the next step, the next promotion, the next move and now. I think inviting your grandparents, it was like I was letting people into the biggest risk I’ve taken: quitting my job, moving out of the city and throwing in all of my life savings into this farm.”

He leaned back to look at her, “and?”

“And no more doubts” she said before leaning to catch his mouth. The thunder cracked in the distance and he pulled her up in his arms to bring her inside before the rain started.


	16. Summer's end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW. I really like this chapter, I hope you do too!
> 
> Probrecita essentially means "poor baby" or "poor dear".

Tomoe walked down the newly laid path towards where Alex had begun work on the greenhouse repair. The first breath of autumn had started to come with cooler nights and an intensifying harvest. All of the raspberries were coming in at the same time she was digging up rows and rows of beets and potatoes. It was exhausting but scratched an itch she didn’t know she had when she gazed at the boxes of overflowing vegetables and fruit she had grown herself. Tomoe had never considered herself in any way primal, but it was like she had a less evolved human burrowed in the back of her mind, pleased she had grown these mountains of food. 

She saw Alex standing on the third rung of a ladder working at repairing some of the metal skeleton of the greenhouse, his tool belt neatly packed and hanging from his lean hips. Tomoe sprawled out on the grass near where he was working, sighing loudly and closing her eyes. 

“That tired, huh?” Alex asked. 

Tomoe kept her eyes shut, but nodded, “I’ve never seen as many potatoes in one place as is now sitting in the bed of my truck.”

There was a sound of a tape measure being opened before it snapped shut, “you should be proud, I’m proud.” 

She smiled, “no _you_ should be proud”

“No _you_ should be proud,” Alex echoed.

“Everyone should be proud!” Tomoe crooned before stretching her arms out and pulling at blades of grass with her fingertips.

“Dork” Alex laughed. 

“Yup” she replied, happy to let the warmth from the sun sink into her sore muscles and listen to the sounds of Alex working. 

Her thoughts drifted into comfortable daydreams until she heard the crunch of boots and the sounds of Alex sitting near her. Tomoe cracked open an eye and peered at him through the corner of her eye, “how do you look like you a fucking model after working all day and I feel like a muddy salt lick?”

He chucked, leaning down to taste the hollow of her throat, “only a little muddy, but pretty salty” he said and Tomoe pushed him on the shoulder.

“You’re supposed to lie and flatter me especially since I busted my ass all day” she moaned.

“Aww, pobrecita” he cooed, standing up and turning his back towards her, “need a ride?” he asked, holding his arms out from his sides to hold her piggyback. 

Tomoe rolled to her feet and placed her hands on his shoulders, savoring the solid muscle there before jumping up and gripping his hips with her knees. She leaned in to smell the nape of his neck, breathing in the scent of sweat, sunscreen, leather and the dark musky scent that was distinctly Alex. 

“Whatcha doing back there?” he asked, making his way down the path back towards her house. 

Tomoe leaned in, kissing his cheek and feeling the muscles on his hips and torso bunch and move as he walked, “just enjoying the perks of being your passenger.” 

He laughed, “weirdo.” 

Tomoe hummed and ran her tongue around the whirl of his ear before pulling his earlobe between her teeth and nipping. She was rewarded with a shiver and a hiss.

“My passenger is misbehaving,” he said, some dark undertones weaving through his words. 

Tomoe chuckled and leaned down to bite into the meat of his muscles between his neck and shoulder just as he walked her up the steps of her porch.

Alex growled and shouldered his way into the front door before tossing her onto the bed and reaching behind him to grab his shirt to yank it up and over his head. 

“Alex, I haven’t showered yet,” Tomoe protested weakly, her eyes traveling over the planes of his chest and feeling desire pool in her gut.

“Mmmm, should’ve thought of that before you made a meal of your ride home” he replied, his eyes dark with want. 

He crawled over her with animal grace before he gathered her wrists in one of his hands, the other traveling down her neck and gripping it softly as he placed hot, wet kisses along her jaw. Tomoe arched into him and moaned, bucking her hips into his chest.

He huffed a laugh before gathering her tank top in a fist and pulling if over her head. He stopped and stared at her for a beat, his eyes growing darker, “you drive me crazy when you don’t wear a bra around the farm.”

Tomoe grinned and bit her lip, “that’s kinda the point.”

Alex shook his head slowly in mock disapproval before leaning down and running the flat of his tongue between her breasts. Tomoe yelped and gripped his hair as he tasted her. He leaned up to look at her with a grin, “I like tasting your sweat” he said horsely before he moved to her left breast and gathered her pebbled nipple into his mouth. 

Tomoe shivered and racked her fingernails into his back as he lapped at her. She could feel herself nearing the edge and she pushed with her hips until she flipped him onto his back, undoing his belt and pulling it out of his jeans with a snap. He grinned at her hungrily before he flipped her back over and yanked her leggings down. 

Tomoe liked this animal side of his, free and open to taking what he wanted. He tossed her leggings to the over side of the room before pulling off his own jeans. Tomoe surged forward and grabbed him at the base. Alex gasped and let out a moan before kissing her roughly, nipping and sucking and tasting her deeply and she worked him with her hands. Alex tried to push her back unto the bed and Tomoe laughed hotly, tussling with him for control. He gripped the back of her thighs and she tried to push him onto his back. Eventually he flipped her into her stomach and caught her hands above her head. 

“Someone’s feeling naughty today” he said and he continued to nip and suck along her spine. Tomoe pushed back with her hips and he moaned.   
“Now, Alex” she said breathlessly, trembling from desire.

He gripped her hip while he guided himself in and Tomoe moaned at the intrusion. Alex looped his arm around her stomach, pulling her ass flush with his groin and laying his chest along her back before rolling them to their sides. 

He moved languorously, torturing her with the promise of more but keeping her from the edge until she reached behind her and groped for his hip, hoping to spur him on. 

“Tomoe” he said breathlessly.

“More more more” she intoned and he growled, snapping his hips and increasing his pace until her walls trembled. When she finally tipped over, he lost his rhythm and shuddered with his own release. 

—

Tomoe awoke with Alex draped over her and the sun having set. She turned to peer at her phone for the time. 8:30PM. She moved to kiss his eyelids.

“Alex,” she whispered, running her fingers through his hair. 

“Mmm” he hummed before opening his eyes and looking at her, smiling. 

“When are the Moonlight Jellyfish supposed to be out?” she asked, running her fingertips along his arm.

He leaned in to kiss her, slow and sweet, “Grandma said Demetrius suggested we get to the beach by 10:00PM if we want to see them. Wanna go?”

She nodded and leaned back in for another kiss, “I haven’t seen Sam, Abigail or Sebastian since . . .”

He cupped her cheek, “we can stay in too.”

She watched him for a minute before shaking her head, “no, let’s go.”

—

When they got to the beach there were clumps of townspeople gathered along the shore and piers looking regularly into the water for any glimpses of the jellyfish. 

The night had a chill to it that warned of the season change waiting just around the corner. Alex has brought a hoodie with him, but Tomoe had just thrown on her typical leggings and tank top and was wishing she had thought to bring sweater.

Haley noticed them first and came over, giving them both a kiss on the cheek. Tomoe wasn’t quite used to the affection Haley had shown her since she came to apologize, but Alex was positively blissful. Whatever had happened between them at high school had solidified their connection into something strong and deep. To have Haley so firmly on Tomoe’s side felt good if not a little strange.

Haley and Alex did most of the talking which suited Tomoe just fine until Alex ducked away to use the bathroom in Willie’s shop. Haley turned towards Tomoe, studying her with sharp blue eyes, “love looks good one you.”

Tomoe felt her cheeks flush and her heart knock against her ribs, “I, uh, I—“ she stammered.

Haley laid a hand on her shoulder, “relax, I’m not trying to rush you, I’m just, happy for Alex” she paused, considering, “and you” she said and smiled.

Tomoe blinked, surprised. At that moment, Alex came back and leaned to kiss her on the crown of her head. She leaned up and smiled at him, “what secrets were you two telling?” he asked.

“Oh no, you don’t get to know this time” Haley chided and Tomoe grinned.

The breeze picked up and Tomoe shivered. Alex looked at her at frowned before pulling off his hoodie. She shook her head, “oh no, I’m not a damsel in distress.”

He gave her a lop-sided grin before dropping it over her head, “just take it, for my sake then.”  
It was warm and smelled like him and she didn’t argue. When she pushed her head through the hoodie, she saw Sebastian had walked over and her stomach sank.

“Wearing his hoodie like you’re in high school, uh?” Sebastian asked. Alex wrapped a protective arm around her waist and pulled her into his side.

“Leave us alone” Tomoe said. 

Sebastian eyed her and sighed, “I, uh, wanted to apologize” he said, watching her with guarded eyes.

“Oh, thanks” she replied, feeling like it was more of a question than acknowledgement.

“Friends?” he asked, reaching his hand out. 

Tomoe looked at it and then up at him, “what you said was really hurtful, Seb.”

“I know, I’m sorry, can I make it up to you? Will you come play pool this Friday?” he asked.

Tomoe studied his face, trying to discern his intentions before turning to face Alex. 

“Alex is also invited” Sebastian added. 

Alex nodded slightly and Tomoe turned back, “okay, we’ll come.”


	17. Mending fences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the comments, this chapter is leading us to some more drama. Hope you enjoy!

Alex walked back to Tomoe’s house as the sun began to set, casting a warm, orange light along the horizon. He had been dreading the night, the combination of going to the bar for the first time in years and spending the evening with Sebastian leaving a hollow feeling in his gut. But he promised Tomoe and he wouldn’t leave her to face it alone. Had it been him he would have felt no compulsion to try and mend fences, but she was loyal and headstrong and refused to believe there wasn’t a way forward with Sebastian, particularly since they had known each other as kids when she was still coming for summers. Frankly, Alex had to admit the characteristics that pushed Tomoe to try and make things work with her friends were also among the reasons he enjoyed being with her.

So here he was, on his way back from working on the greenhouse to get ready for an evening with people who didn’t seem to care about him (or actively disliked him) all for the spunky, fiery little woman who had wormed her way deep into his heart.

When he walked inside he saw Tomoe standing over the stove, flipping pancakes in a skillet. He walked up behind her to run his hands along her arms and leaned in to kiss the nape of her neck.

“What’s all this?” he asked.

She leaned into his kiss, “just thought I would cook you a nice dinner, I know pool at the bar with Seb, Sam and Abigail isn’t your thing.” 

“Mmmm” he hummed, smelling the shampoo on her freshly washed hair, “but you are definitely my thing.”

She turned in his arms and pinched his side, “quit trying to distract me, we are going out.”

He pouted, “but I could making in worth your while.”

She turned back to move the pancakes on to two plates already brimming with eggs and bacon, “but I made your favorite meal.”

“It also happens to be comprised completely of breakfast food which I remember someone saying was the . . . what was it? Oh yes, only thing she could make.”

She scrunched her nose at him and the expression made his heart flutter, “it’s still your favorite.”

He watched her for a moment before breaking into a grin and grabbing the plates to move them to the table, “you win, it is my favorite.”

They settled down to eat and after they had taken their first several bites, Tomoe placed her hand over his, “thank you, for tonight”, her eyes glittering. 

Alex flipped his hand over to grab hers, running his thumb over her knuckles, “ ‘course, sweetheart.”

“I also wanted to ask if you could,” she paused and cleared her throat, “well I wanted you to be a part of my entry for the Stardew Valley Fair, I mean everything I grew this summer I could really only do with your help.”

She bit her lip and he smiled, “this is your farm, you don’t have to share credit for anything.”

Tomoe shook her head, her hair moving in cascades about her shoulders. Alex loved when her hair was down and he always wanted to run his fingers through it. “No, I do, I want to, you deserve it.”

He squeezed her hand, “in that case, I’m honored.”

— 

Tomoe had invited Haley as well and she met them outside the bar. The autumn chill had started to seep into the valley and their breath came out in white plumes of steam.

When Alex bent to kiss Haley on the cheek, she squeezed his shoulder, “you good?” she asked. He nodded and opened the door to let them in.

By the pool table Sebastian, Sam and Abigail were already seated with several pitchers of beer. They made their way over, Alex wrapping his arm around Tomoe’s waist and pulled her into his side. Sebastian had tried to make nice at the beach but Alex still didn’t like the hungry look he had in his eyes around Tomoe. 

“Beer?” Sam asked, reaching for a cup and pouring some beer in. 

“Yes please and for Haley” Tomoe said.

“What about you, Alex?” Sam asked.

He raised his hand and shook, “I’m good”.

Seb rolled his eyes, “too good for the cheap stuff?”

Tomoe crossed her arms, “be nice, Seb, Alex doesn’t drink.”

“Oh yea, why’s that?” Sebastian asked. 

Before Alex could respond, Abigail cut him off, “it’s okay, it’s not our business. You in for a game of pool?”

Haley looked at Abigail gratefully and she smiled.

“Yea, sounds good” Alex replied.

—

A couple of games in and everyone seemed a bit looser. For the most part Sebastian had been civil to him after his initial jab over the beer and Alex was beginning to genuinely enjoy Sam and Abigail’s company. Tomoe looked relieved and was happy to give him kisses on his cheek or to wrap her arm around his waist as they played. Having her so casually show her affection in front of what looked like most of the town gathered at the bar on a Friday night felt good. 

As he waited for his next turn, Sebastian worked his way over and cleared his throat.

Alex looked at him, “can I help you?” he asked.

Sebastian shrugged, glancing at him from the corner of his eye, “just curious, how come your last name is Mullner if your mom was Evelyn and George’s kid?”

“That’s a personal question, Seb” Alex responded.

“Just trying to get to know you, that’s what Tomoe wants.” 

Alex turned to face him more fully, “I started writing Mullner instead of my dad’s name when I was in 2nd grade. Changed it legally as soon as I turned 18.”

Sebastian whistled, “you must really hate your dad, huh.”

Alex crossed his arms and Seb put his hands up, “chill, Alex, my dad is a deadbeat too, we might actually have something in common.” 

Tomoe came over and rubbed his shoulder, “everything good you two?”

“Yea, we’re good” Alex responded.

“Just bonding over our asshole dads” Seb said.

“Oh sure” Tomoe said, but she watched Alex carefully with a crease between her eyebrows.

“What was your old man’s name anyways if you took your mom’s?” Sebastian asked.

“That’s a weird question” Tomoe responded.

“It’s alright, isn’t a secret. His name is Thomas Caine. Now, I think it’s your turn,” Alex gestured back to the pool table.

Tomoe turned and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, watching him carefully with her honey-flecked brown eyes, “that was weird, you sure you’re good, love?”.

Alex smiled, “I think you should call me that again” he said, leaning in for a kiss. 

She smiled against his lips, “sure, love, whatever you want.”


	18. The visitor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI: Alex's dad shows up and he's a jerk. I don't believe it constitutes emotional abuse in this chapter but if that is something that would be a trigger for you, you might want to skip this one. 
> 
> Also reference to smoking.

On the morning of the Fair Alex and Tomoe loaded up her truck with the produce, jam and eggs for her grange display. For the past week Alex had taken to staying overnight every night. Seeing his toothbrush standing next to her’s gave her a tingling happiness that pricked along her skin. Tomoe had made a copy of her key the day after his grandparents had come over to eat, waiting to ask him to move in with her when the time felt right. By conventional standards she was moving fast, but something had clicked for them. They were always touching and orbiting each other in a happy bubble and part of her felt there was no reason to wait longer just because that is what propriety dictated.

Alex set the last pallet in the truck bed and turned to smile at her. He was wearing flannel over his tight t-shirts now with the autumn chill and he had let his facial hair grow out a bit giving him a delicious shadow along his jaw. The way the morning light landed on him lit up his dark eyes and tousled hair. Tomoe gazed at him, drinking in the moment and his happiness.

“Ready to go?” he asked and she smiled in return.

“Just a sec, I’m taking a mental picture,” she replied.

He stuck out his tongue and she laughed before walking to him and slipping her arms around his neck.

“How did we get here?” she asked, dotting his jaw with soft kisses.

Alex turned to catch her mouth and kissed her long as slow, “luck, fate.”

She hummed, “remind me to ask you something after the fair today.”

He kissed her long and slow, “mhmmm.”

Tomoe tasted his mouth before pulling back, “ready?”

He nodded.

—

By late morning the Fair was in full swing with plenty of out-of-towners mulling about joining in the fair games and stopping by the displays. In between the busyness of farm chores Tomoe had managed to order some business cards with the hopes she could get some more customers out of the exposure. She was trying not to put too much stock in winning the contest, but hopes she could impress some nearby visitors all the same.

Tomoe had just finished talking with some passersby when she heard a gruff voice, “boy, what happened to playing for the big leagues?”

Alex’s face lost all of his color and he clenched his jaw. Tomoe reached for his hand before a portly middle-aged man came over. He was disheveled with greasy brown hair that at some point used to be in a short cut that was allowed to grow out until it reached his ears in an unflattering poof. He had a beer gut and a misaligned button-down shirt.

“D-dad?” Alex asked weakly. _Oh, fuck._ This was his father? The only resemblance Tomoe could see between them was Alex’s coloring: brown hair and eyes. Everything else about Alex, his height, his lean frame, his angles and striking features, must all have come from his mother.

His gaze was cold and penetrating. Tomoe took a step in front of Alex, “what the fuck are you doing here?” she asked.

“Whoa now, we haven’t even met there, girly. Name’s Thomas Caine and this is my son, Alex Caine” he said, emphasizing his last name. Alex was breathing rapidly behind her, his palm cold and clammy in hers.

“Don’t know an Alex Caine. Now, can I help you with anything related to my farm?” she snapped.

His eyes narrowed at her, “I’m here to talk with my son, not argue with an overprotective farmer girl.” Alex winced at the name and laid a hand on Tomoe’s shoulder.

“It’s alright,” he said to her, but his face was tight and she badly wanted to take him away.

“What do you want, dad?” Alex asked.

“Can’t a man talk with his son? I heard you were working as a general contractor these days, thought I might come and see you. Thinking I might stick around at an inn nearby and try to catch up with you before I head off again,” he said, handing Alex a piece of paper with a phone number.

Alex rubbed the back of his neck, “what?” he looked lost, “you want to catch up? You weren’t around for mom’s fucking funeral. What the fuck are you here for?”

He put up his hands, “just, think about it. I know I haven’t been the best father,” and he turned and walked back into the crowd.

“What the fuck just happened?” Alex asked, staring at the piece of paper.

“Alex, sweetheart, why don’t we go sit down somewhere” Tomoe asked, running her hands up and down his arms.

Alex looked up at her, his eyes swirling with confusing and pain, “you have to stay here, I’ll just go . . . clear my head”.

Tomoe cupped his cheek and kissed him, “whatever you want, I’m here.”

“I know.”

—

To her surprise, Tomoe won second place for her display. Unfortunately she didn’t feel any triumph in her success after the visit from Alex’s father. As soon as she could, Tomoe went looking for him, finding him on the bridge over the river and away from the center of town.

He stood gazing out over the river, a cigarette between slightly trembling fingers. She came up behind him and ran a hand along his back before leaning in to kiss his shoulder.

He turned his had and gave her a weak smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Taking up smoking?” she asked, gesturing to the cigarette in his hands. He took a deep drag before flicking it into the river.

“Wanted a beer real bad after my dad came. Haley found me outside the bar and gave me her pack of cigarettes.”

Tomoe pulled him for a long hug, “I’m sorry, Alex.”

He nodded and pulled her into his arms, “dunno what happened. I’ve thought about confronting him a million times, had a whole speech made up for how I would tell him off for everything he did but I froze.”

Tomoe leaned back to look into his eyes, her hand on his cheek, “you shouldn't have to think about any of that, you don’t need to confront him or meet with him or do anything. You have people who love you, you don’t need him in you life.”

He turned his head to kiss her hand and inhaled deeply, “I know, I'm sorry.”

She shook her head, “don’t be sorry.”

They stood there for a while, Tomoe running her hands up and down his back and Alex with his head on her shoulder.

Alex pulled back and kissed her gently, “I think I’m going to stay at my grandparents tonight.”

Tomoe’s heart sank, but she tried to not show it “okay.”

He cupped her cheek and turned her face so he looked into her eyes, “hey, I just need some time to sort through my thoughts, okay?”

She nodded.

“Hey, you said this morning you wanted to ask me something” Alex said.

“It can wait.”


	19. Closer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW

Alex woke up before dawn and went for a run. He intended to just go for three miles but ended up going for six. Usually he was able to go until his mind would completely empty and he was just going, at one with his body and the world around him. This time, he kept turning things over and over in his mind hoping that if he just looked at it again, considered another angle he would somehow come up with a solution that he was pretty sure, at least in his logical mind, didn’t exist.

By the time he got back the sun was up and he was drenched in sweat. He felt a tweak in his hamstring and was trying to stretch it out when the door opened and his grandfather came out with a mug of coffee tucked between his knees. 

“What are you still doing here, huh?” he asked, putting the brake on his wheelchair and sipping his coffee. 

Alex looked up, “good morning to you too, grandpa.”

George took another sip of coffee, “you heard me, what’re you doing here when you could be over with that lady of yours?”

“Ready to get me out of the house grandpa?” Alex asked, going back to his stretching.

There was a moment of silence while George studied the horizon and pulled his jacket tighter. “Saw your old man yesterday.”

Alex stopped and looked up.

“Assuming you staying here last night and waking up before the ass crack of down has something to do with it?” George asked, raising an eyebrow.

Alex stayed silent.

“Well, let me tell you. He ain’t worth whatever turmoil you got going on in that head of yours.”

Alex flopped down next to his grandfather’s wheelchair and gripped his hair with both hands, “what if I turn out like him, grandpa? I mean, I already gave up on sports. What if I end up being a deadbeat like him and what if I end up hurting Tomoe?” 

George was quiet, taking another sip of coffee. 

“Now you listen to me. Far as I can tell your dad’s only done one good thing in the world and that’s fathering you. The man you’ve become, well, he’s had very little to do with that.” Alex eyes pricked with unshed tears and George reached down to put a hand on his shoulder.

“As far as if you’re going to be a deadbeat, no chance in hell. You’ve built Tomoe’s house. Replaced and improved most of what is there and you did it well. I can also tell you she’d be mad as shit knowing you think you’re protecting her somehow by staying away cuz your ass of a father poked his nose where it don’t belong.” 

Alex turned his head and hid his eyes in the crook of his arm. He took a couple of deep breaths trying to calm his heart down and George squeezed his shoulder. 

“Now you know I’m not sentimental, but I’ve seen how she looks at you and how you look at her. I also know that your father has taken more from us than he ever deserved plus interest. You deserve happiness and you don’t need to keep checking your back for some boogieman you’re afraid you’ll become. You are not Thomas Caine, you are Alex Mullner, you hear?”

Alex nodded and the tears finally broke through, streaming down as he hiccuped trying to hold back sobs. George kept his eyes on the horizon but his hand on Alex’s shoulder.

After the tears subsided, Alex took a couple of shaky breaths, “he asked to see me again.”

George sighed and took another sip of coffee, “well, that’s up to you but I know what I would do.” Alex nodded. They sat in silence for a while longer, watching the sun rise higher in the sky

“I’m going to go see Tomoe” Alex said.

“Thatta boy.” 

—  
After a quick shower and change, Alex drove to Tomoe’s farm hoping he would catch her after her morning chores. As he pulled up, Daisy loped over to greet him which meant Tomoe was in the house otherwise Daisy would’ve followed her out around the farm. 

When he got to the door and knocked, waves of alternating anxiety, sadness, anger and relief washed through him. The arrival of his father punctured this little bubble of bliss he and Tomoe had been cultivating and it dug under his skin, sending him back to memories when he ached from his father’s rejection and armored himself with anything that could shield him from it. 

Tomoe opened the door, “Alex”.

Before he could stop them, the tears came back, “shit, sorry” he mumbled, rubbing at the tears with his hands. The fear and sadness tore through him without warning, being near her was like losing the plug in a bath, the torrent rushing down the drain. He sagged under the weight, feeling her hands pulling at his shoulders to ease him inside as he was lost in the storm. 

—

When the storm passed, he realized she had pulled off his shoes and was stroking his hair, she must have managed to get him to the bed and cradle his head to her chest. Alex was sure his face was red and blotchy and he saw a sizable patch of water on her shirt. He rose to a seated position and turned to watch her. Her eyes were wide and warm, a little worry creased on her brow, but no fear or disappointment that he could see. 

“I’m, uh, gonna clean up,” he said, making his way down the hall to the bathroom to blow his nose and wipe his face. He cupped his hands under cold water in the sink and splashed it over his face, trying to wash the red splotches away. Alex eyed himself in the mirror, his eyes were red-rimmed, his cheeks were red-rimmed and his hair was tousled and sticking up in clumps. He did his best to wet his hear back down and he scrubbed his face on a towel.

When he came back out, there was a mug of hot chocolate on the table. He smiled and took a sip while Tomoe made her way over to kiss his cheek. She leaned on his shoulders, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. They sat in companionable silence like this for a while. Tomoe ran her fingertips back and forth along his chest and Alex kept sipping his chocolate until he turned to look at her. 

Tomoe smiled and in that moment Alex needed to be closer to her. He burned with the desire to have every inch of his skin touching her. Her smile slowly dissolved and her eyes darkened, “come here” she whispered and he kissed her roughly, running his hands under her shirt up her back and licking deeply into her mouth feeling the velvet of her tongue. 

He stood, keeping her locked against him, slipping his hands down to the backs of her thighs and lifting her up to wrap them around his waist. All the while their mouths were locked together, fighting for control. Alex’s head buzzed with the taste of her, of tea and citrus and the mint of her toothpaste. 

He walked them over to the bed, dropping her on it to pull his flannel and shirt up and over his head, not bothering to unbutton them. Tomoe understood his want and quickly stripped off her clothes, watching him with her lips parted. He landed on top of her and pulled her flush against his chest, placing hot, wet kisses along her collarbone and neck before grabbing her chin between his thumb and forefinger, “stay close to me.”

“Always” she answered in a hoarse voice, pulling him even closer to her so they were locked in a tight embrace. He couldn’t explain the feeling, it was like he wanted to crawl inside of her. He needed to be surrounded by her—her scent in his nose, her taste in his mouth, her sweat on his skin. Their kisses turned rough and desperate, nipping and sucking and leaving marks behind them until he reached down to align himself with her entrance.

“Alright?” he asked, her lips swollen from his kisses and her face red from his stubble.

“Always” she answered, digging her heels in his back to push him to the hilt.

They gasped in unison and he started moving, slow and hard. As their pace increased and they reached the edge together, she cupped his cheek and raised his head to look at her, their gazes locked together as they reached the edge and tumbled off.


	20. Gravity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks as always for the kudos and comments!

It was about midday and the fall sunlight was filtering in across the floor, catching dancing dust in the light. Tomoe eased off the bed where Alex had dropped off to sleep and padded to the bathroom. She had felt something shift this morning, like a puzzle piece slotting into a hole she didn’t know she had. Uneasiness pooled in her stomach. Her head told her it was too much too fast and Tomoe fancied herself a logical person, someone who was good at making decisions and moving forward. Yet when Alex arrived at her door barely holding it together, it felt as if the ground beneath her feet shifted to point her towards him. He was gravity and she finally was pulled into orbit rather than flitting about looking for a course to follow. 

Tomoe splashed water on her face and studied her face in the mirror. She looked healthy, confident and happy in a way she almost didn’t recognize. She also felt like they were facing a shadow ahead, like the road in front of them was banked in fog and the way forward was uncertain. She was committed to the farm and he was barely out of getting a contractor license and starting a career that he hadn’t intended. Would he be willing to take on the farm with her? To tie himself fully into this town that didn’t seem to always love him back? 

She went back to the bedroom to watch him from the doorway, her shoulder pressed against the frame. The breadth of his shoulders, curve of his neck, shadow along his jaw. She knew them, had tasted them and still craved them. He seemed to offset her tenacity in grit, challenging her and matching her at the same time. Watching him in the bright hours of the day, she felt as if this moment could repeat itself a thousand times if she let it, stretching out before her in a glimpse of a possible future if they could only push through the fog. 

—

Tomoe stoked the fire she had started while Alex slept. It was automatic, something she was so used to doing since she moved in that it felt like meditation to do it and she hoped it might help her sort through her thoughts. Once it started to blaze properly, she said watching the flames and sipping her tea. She liked her black tea as dark as pitch with a liberal splash of milk and now that she had a refrigerator she had the luxury of fresh dairy rather than powdered. 

She heard some shuffling and looked up to find Alex in the doorway watching her, his hand rubbing the back of his neck, bare chested and with his jeans loosely hanging from his hips. She patted the floor next to her and he came over and sat down, moving in a sensuously smooth grace he often did in his most vulnerable moments, right after sleep or in the quiet solitude of just their company. 

He watched the fire, grabbing her foot and rubbing her sole in a mindless rhythm, “I want to call him, is that stupid?” he asked.

She turned to look at him, “no, he is your father.”

He huffed a humorless laugh and continued to rub her foot, watching the flames. 

“It feels stupid to me.”

Tomoe set her mug down and turned to face him, “regardless of anything he’s done to you, he is and will always be your father. He initiated this, everything about your reaction is normal.”

Alex nodded, a muscle jumping in his jaw as he watched the fire. Tomoe ran her hand along his shoulders and then up through his hair as he leaned into her touch.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt again,” Tomoe said quietly. 

Alex turned to face her, “I think I just need to know. I need to know why he came to see me now.” 

Tomoe nodded and leaned in to kiss him softly. 

—

They managed to work through the rest of the afternoon, but Alex was jittery. He had called the number his father had given him and left a message taking him up on his offer to meet as long as there was no alcohol and Alex could choose the time and place. His father had called back and they had made plans for that night out in a small town about half an hour from Pelican Town. Tomoe had offered to come but Alex was adamant that it should just be him.

When it was time for Alex to leave, Tomoe held him to her chest and whispered encouragement, feeling an overwhelming desire to project him in a way she had never experienced with anyone else before, the copy of the key she had intended to give him before his father made his unceremonious re-entrance feeling like an enormous weight in her pocket that both frightened and excited her.


	21. Reconciliation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW. Some fluff and some reconciliation. FYI mention of alcoholism. I always appreciate anyone who takes the time to read. I love any comments including those with some constructive ideas for improvement.

Alex chose the little Italian restaurant to meet his dad for a couple reasons. Namely, it didn’t have a bar and it was relatively close by. When he entered the dining room, he was surprised to see his dad was already seated in clean and relatively wrinkle-free clothes. He looked like he had shaved recently and otherwise resembled someone who cared at least somewhat about his appearance which was a change even from when he saw him at the Fair. It made Alex wary. 

“Alex, thanks for coming” his dad said, standing up as he approached the table. He stood awkwardly, looking at the table and wall while Alex took a seat. “I, uh, ordered some calamari” his dad continued. 

Alex watched him and allowed a tiny sliver of hope flit through his chest before he squashed it back down. There was so much pain from his childhood that he never let himself feel that decided to break through when his dad made his sudden appearance at the Fair. 

Finally his dad looked at him in the eyes, “it’s good to see you.” Alex nodded, but didn’t say anything. 

“So, uh, what have you been up to?” his dad asked. 

The anger hit hot and quick, “I’ve been trying to survive after you drowned yourself in alcohol and mom died,” he snapped. 

His dad put his hands up in surrender, “I deserve every bit of anger you have for me.”

“And then you come back out of nowhere after no contact for years” Alex’s throat burned. 

“You’re right and I’m sorry.”

Alex ran his hand through his hair, the words tasted hot, but he couldn’t stop them, “you show up at the Fair and run your mouth like you always have, do you know what it’s like for me? I have a voice inside my head that’s yours and it’s always putting me down.”

His dad dropped his head and sighed loudly. Alex could feel angry tears licking at the back of his eyes, but he pushed them down, unwilling to share that much emotion in front of him.  
When his dad looked back up, his eyes were shiny with emotion. “I am sorry”, he whispered, rubbing his hands together. 

The calamari arrived and Alex threw some on his plate. He didn’t really taste them as he ate, but it was an excuse to break the tension and not have to talk. He wasn’t really sure why he stayed, but he felt a compulsion to stay and see whatever this was through. 

“If you never wanted to see me again, I understand. I didn’t know how to face you after everything that happened. I know I was a shit father, I know that, Alex. I don’t really know how to talk to you, but I want to try. I want to have some kind of relationship with you.” 

Alex looked out the window, searching the trees outside the window. He still felt so angry, but there was still some part of him that longed for a kind of love and acceptance he wasn’t sure his dad was able to give him. 

Alex turned back, “do you know what you’re having for dinner?” he asked. His dad smiled.

— 

Dinner conversation was stilted, but despite everything, Alex was interested to hear from his dad. He shared that he had been attending AA for three years and showed him his sobriety tokens. It was clear that his dad was proud of his work and for a moment, Alex had a surreal realization that his dad was a person, normal and fragile and imperfect, in a way that is always disconcerting for children to realize.

“So tell me about the woman who runs the farm you’re working on?” his dad asked. Alex felt possessiveness spark in his chest at the mention of Tomoe.

“Her name is Tomoe. She’s taking over her grandfather’s farm after he passed.”

“And?”

“And what?”

His dad rolled his eyes, “I may have been gone a lot, but I have at least half a brain and I know when my son likes someone.”

Alex avoided his eyes, “I mean, we’re together if that’s what you’re asking.”

His dad smiled which made Alex bristle. 

“I know you’re just want to know about me dad, but I’m just getting to know you after you left. I’m not ready to go there yet.”

His dad watched him, “I understand. I am just glad that you have her.”

Alex nodded. 

His dad cleared his throat, “listen, I have some tickets for the Tunnelers game next Friday. Would you like to come with me? I want to keep seeing you if that’s alright.”

Alex watched him, “that sounds nice, actually.”

—

Alex drove back to Pelican Town in a bit of a daze. He kept playing the dinner over in his mind. He had enjoyed it, actually being able to have a conversation with his dad, learning about his sobriety. He had felt hopeful in their relationship for the first time in a long while, but the hurt had been too deep and too sustained for it to not all have a patina of doubt cast over it. He had called Tomoe to let him know he was heading back and wanted to see her.

When he walked up to her house, the door opened and Haley stepped out to kiss him on the cheek before moving aside to let him in. 

“Hello lovely, what are you doing here?” he asked.

“Tomoe called, said you were having dinner with your dad. We agreed that a night of movies and friends was called for after that ordeal.”

Alex smiled as Tomoe walked into the room to greet him. He pulled her into his chest and kissed her thoroughly, “you have no idea how good it feels to see you.”

“It didn’t go well?” she asked.

He rubbed the back of his neck, “it actually went really well. My dad’s been sober for three years now, or so he claims. He has AA tokens though. He invited me to see a Tunnelers game in Zuzu next Friday.”

Tomoe cupped his cheek, “and you want to keep seeing him?”

He leaned into her touch, closing his eyes and breathing in the scent of her skin, “I think so, for now at least.”

She nodded before leaning in to kiss him again.

Haley cleared her throat, “not to interrupt, but how do we feel about watching a bad movie?”

“Sounds great” Alex answered, his eyes still locked on Tomoe.

“Wonderful. Now if the two lovers will take a seat on the couch I can microwave the popcorn I brought,” Haley flounced off.

Tomoe rang her fingertips along his arms, “is she always this bossy?”

“Mmm, you tell me, you’re the one who invited her” he said with a grin.

—

Tomoe sat with her back against the arm of the couch, her legs draped over Alex’s lap. They had gone with a mindless, over-the-top action movie that was more a distraction than anything. Alex enjoyed Tomoe’s nearness, touching her ankles and calves or running his knuckles along her arms. It was soothing and reassuring to be able to touch her in this way.

Haley yawned, “looks like this train wreck of a movie is almost over.” She got up and walked over to kiss them both on the cheek and ruffled Alex’s hair, “take care of this one, will you, Tomoe?”

Alex turned to look at Tomoe as Haley closed the front door before leaning in to nuzzle the hair at the nape of her neck. 

“What are you doing?” she giggled.

He breathed in the scent of her hair, “smelling you.”

“Weirdo” she said, tickling his side and he pulled her in closer. 

Alex gathered her up in his arms and walked them to the bedroom, pinching her side. She giggled and bit her lip and he dropped her onto the mattress.

Tomoe gazed at him with wide eyes, “I’m glad you saw your dad, even if it opened up old wounds.”

He leaned with his forearms braced on the door frame, “you know what? I am too.”

Tomoe bit her lip and watched him, her eyes growing dark.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked.

She shook her head, “come here.”

He sauntered over, watching the way she wet her lips with her tongue, growing harder at her expression. When he got to the foot of her bed, she hooked her fingers into the loops of his jeans and pulled his thighs flush with the side of the mattress before looking up at him through her lashes. He reached forward and wove his fingers into her hair, scratching lightly at her scalp. She unbuttoned his jeans before moving the zipper down and pushing down his jeans and boxers to his knees. 

He sprang free, already half-hard from her expressions and from the relief of being with her after he was rung out from a gauntlet of emotion. She reached forward to grab him at the base before swallowing him down.

“Oh fuck” he moaned, throwing his head back and closing his eyes. She was hot velvet, enveloping every ridge in delicious wet heat. She hummed her satisfaction and the vibration went straight to his groin. Before long he was pushing at her shoulders.

“Tomoe, wait, I” but she pushed him farther into her throat and he couldn’t stop, he was tumbling into his release, clutching her shoulder and shuddering. Once he came down, she looked up at him with glassy eyes.

“Your turn,” he said, grabbing the hem of her leggings and pulling them off her legs. She gave a breathy laugh as he fell on her, kissing her deeply and reaching down to press into her belly. When he ran fingertips along her inner thigh she shudder and he swallowed her moan. 

“You are incredible” he said, nipping along her collarbone and coaxing a tremulous moan from her lips. Tomoe arched up into his hand as he continued to make patterns on her inner thighs while avoiding the part of her that burned for him.

“And you” she panted, “are a tease.”

He leaned up to kiss her again, tasting her mouth while he pressed a finger into her and she let out a strangled sigh. He nipped at her lips, bending his finger while she keened. He moved languorously until she had a sheen of sweat along her neck. He tasted the salt and eased a second finger into her. Tomoe gripped his biceps and arched into him. When he pressed her bundle of nerves with his thumb she shattered beneath him.


	22. The plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some sexual harassment in this chapter so it might not be a bad idea to skip ahead if that is a trigger for you.

Alex decided to stay overnight in Zuzu City Friday since the game was in the evening so he didn’t have to make the trek back from Zuzu. Tomoe had thought about going with him, but his dad only had the two tickets and in the end she thought that it was better for Alex to forge this new relationship on his own. She could tell that he wanted to shield her form his dad, that he didn’t yet trust his intentions since he had been burned too badly before. So when Friday rolled around, Alex planned on just a little bit of work on the greenhouse before he left midday. 

After Tomoe did her morning chores, she took the four-wheeler over to the greenhouse to catch him before he left. The days were colder so we wore a flannel over a hoodie with his usual jeans and work boots, but the breadth of his shoulders still pulled the layers taut in a way that pooled desire in her belly. 

“How’s it going?” she asked and he turned to smile at her.

“Just wrapping up, suitcase is in my truck so I’ll just leave from here.”

She walked to him and hugged him tightly before leaning in to place a soft kiss on his lips, “I think I still want take that tree down in the south field this weekend,” she said.

He kissed her again before leaving back to watch her, “do you think you could wait for me to get back?”

She pouted and he laughed, touching her lower lip with his knuckle, “please?” he asked.

She bit his knuckle playfully before shaking her head, “I think I can do it myself, I’ll just tie the tree up so it falls where I want it.”

He frowned, “it would make me feel better if you wait.”

A little shimmer of frustration flitted through her chest, “I want to get it done, Alex, I don’t want to wait.”

He gritted his teeth, a muscle jumping in his jaw, before he nodded curtly, “I’m not going to change your mind, huh?”  


Tomoe leaned up and kissed him again, this time she tasted his mouth, wrapped her tongue around his and gripped his hair. 

After several hungry kisses, he leaned back, his eyes dark. “I’ll be fine,” she murmured as his eyes flicked back down to her lips before meeting her eyes again. 

“I’ll be back soon” he said.

—

Tomoe walked to the Saloon just as the sun was touching the horizon, the days already shortening with the change in seasons. Haley would meet her there tonight along with the usual crew of Sebastian, Abigail and Sam.

She was buffeted by a wave of wet air, thick with the smell of beer and popcorn. The saloon had started to become familiar and she waved at several people before getting to the pool table. 

Haley was the first to greet her, giving her a kiss on the cheek, “you look good tonight, darling, not too hard of a day on the farm?”

“No, I think we are ahead of schedule.”

“Hey Tommy!” Abigail said as she floated over, handing her a beer. She gave Haley a sly smile and Tomoe raised her eyebrows.

Haley gave her a discreet shake of her head, “later.”

Tomoe smiled before walking over to the pool table, “can I join a team?” she asked.

Seb turned towards her, “where’s Mullner?”

“He’s in Zuzu tonight.”

Seb’s lips twitched at her response, “join my team” he offered. 

—

Three beers in and Tomoe was feeling buzzed and pliant, enjoying the company. She texted Alex a couple of times and he confirmed he checked in at his hotel and was at the game. Tomoe had won the last game of pool and was considering calling it a night after her next beer. 

“So, uh, what’s Mullner in Zuzu for?” Seb asked.

“Mmm? Oh, he’s meeting his dad, actually.”

“Thought they didn’t get along”

“They didn’t, but they’re trying to figure out a way to get to know each other again.” 

“And I’m glad we get you to ourselves again.”

“What do you mean?” Tomoe asked, Seb had taken a step closer and she could smell the smoke on his jacket from his menthol cigarettes.

He shrugged, “just that I missed our Friday nights from when you first moved here in the spring.” 

She smiled and poured herself another beer, “this is my last one” she said, raising her glass to indicate the beer.

Seb leaned back against the wall near the high table they were standing around, “I only drank one tonight, let me drive you home.”

Tomoe waved her hand, “I’m fine, I’ll walk.”

“It’s cold, let me take you home.”

Tomoe was warm and happy and a ride did sound nice, “sure, if you insist.”

—

Seb cranked the heat up in the car he borrowed from his mom. He didn’t take the motorcycle on account of the chill.

“Thanks again, Seb,” Tomoe said, leaning back with a sigh and just a little bit of vertigo from the alcohol. She had stopped before she was well and truly drunk, but she was heavily buzzed and letting the fuzzy, happy feeling envelop her.

“Sure thing,” he murmured, pulling the car onto the road from the Saloon parking lot. 

Tomoe didn’t know how much time passed, maybe just a couple of minutes, but she felt Seb place his hand on her knee and her eyes snapped open, “what are you doing, Seb?” she asked, a frisson of fear and anger arcing through her chest. 

He didn’t move his hand, only squeezed her knee harder, “I wanted to get you alone, make sure you understood how I feel without Alex around to interfere.”

“Seb, I told you I’m not interested, why are you doing this?” Tomoe asked, inwardly wincing at how her voice wavered.

“You’ve always been distracted by him, Tommy, I waited too long. I know if you just give me a chance we could have something great together.”

Tomoe pushed at his hand, annoyed at her alcohol-induced clumsiness, “let me out, Seb”

“If you would just listen! I worked really hard to get this time for us to talk.” 

“What the fuck do you mean? You’re scaring me” 

“I needed to just talk to you without him around” Sebastian said, his voice getting louder. "I found his dad and paid him to come to the Fair to talk with Alex. Gave him those tickets to the Tunnelers game and paid him $500 if he got Alex to go. Don't you see? We should be together!"

“Oh fuck" Tomoe groaned, her stomach heaving with fear. "Stop the car, Seb, let me out!

Sebastian gripped his hair and groaned, but hit the brakes, “please, just listen to me!” he looked at her with wild eyes. 

Tomoe fumbled with the seatbelt and flung the door open, “you stay the fuck away from me, Seb”.

He leaned over, “wait, Tommy! I love you, please!”

Tomoe started to run, fumbling wildly with her phone as she moved, she could hear Seb yelling after her, but she couldn’t make out the words. She called Alex but it went to voicemail which wasn't surprising since the game was still going.

“Alex, call me” she said breathlessly before ending the calling and finding Haley’s number.

“What’s up, Tomoe?” Haley asked.

Tomoe glanced behind her to make sure Sebastian wasn’t following her, “Haley, Seb tried to come on to me, I got out of the car, I—“ her voice broke for a second, tears licking at the back of her eyes.

“Where are you? Let me come and get you.”


	23. Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still dealing with the fallout of the last chapter's sexual harassment. Mention of emotional trauma. Thank you very much for reading everyone, we are working towards a happy ending, I promise!

Tomoe sipped from her mug of still piping hot chamomile tea while Haley lit a cigarette, “do you mind?” she asked. Tomoe shook her head. 

Haley had picked her up on the side of the road after she unceremoniously fled from Sebastian’s car and they drove to her house in silence. She felt both numb and tense mixed with a heavy buzz from the beer. The numbness turned into anxiety and by the time they got to her house, Tomoe went to the bathroom and promptly got sick. After she brushed her teeth and rinsed her mouth out, Haley pushed a mug of tea into her hands and sat her down on her couch. 

Haley gave a long exhale of smoke up towards the ceiling before turning to peer at Tomoe, “tell me what happened.”

Tomoe looked at her, “Seb told me he loved me and that he paid Alex’s dad to get Alex to go to Zuzu City for the game tonight so he was out of town.”

Haley raised an eyebrow before taking another drag on her cigarette, “did he . . . touch you?”

Tomoe shook her head, “he put his hand on my knee but didn’t try anything else.” She sighed and looked out the window into the dark of the night before turning back to Haley, “he just sounded . . . I was afraid he wouldn’t let me out of his car.” She took another sip of tea, “I have told him no so many times, what did I do to make him believe there was anything between us?” 

“Stop” Haley said firmly, “there is nothing you did or didn’t do, this isn’t on you. No matter what you did he would still have pursued you.”

Tomoe felt tears threatening to spill and set the mug down so she could press the heels of her hands into her eyes, “what do I tell Alex, Haley? He thought was finally getting somewhere with his dad and it’s only because Sebastian paid him off.”

“It sucks, but right now I’m concerned about you. Do you want to call the police? Maybe try and file a restraining order? Seb can’t keep doing this to you.”

Tomoe looked down at her trembling hands, did she want to go through telling her story again and this time in front of a stranger? She took a deep breath and exhaled, “a restraining order seems like a lot, don’t you think?”

“Absolutely not, he is not respecting your boundaries.”

Tomoe took another sip, “maybe you’re right. I think I will talk with the police, but I want to do it with Alex when he gets back in the morning.”

Haley stubbed out her cigarette and walked over to put a hand on Tomoe’s shoulder, “do you want me to stay with you tonight?”

Tomoe smiled up at her before looking over to Daisy who was laying across the mat at the front door, a habit she picked up when she sensed Tomoe was uneasy, “no, thank you, I think Daisy and I will be good tonight.”

Haley searched her face with sharp, clear blue eyes before nodding, “I tried calling Alex a couple of times and it went straight to voicemail. He will definitely check his phone in the morning, I will call you then to.” She gave her a kiss on the cheek and walked towards the front door before turning back, “Tomoe, this is not your fault.”

Tomoe nodded, “I know, thanks Haley.”

—

Tomoe slept fitfully, walking up several times from patchwork dreams where she was trying to run but her legs just wouldn’t work. Each time she tried to remember who or what she was trying to escape from but the threads slipped through her grasp and faded into the night before she could catch them. The third time she woke up she decided to get up for the day. She would’ve woken up in an hour anyways so she went out to do field work before the sun rose, her breath puffing out in white plumes against the autumn chill. 

When she finished her morning rounds it was barely dawn and Alex’s phone was still going straight to voicemail. She paced around her house unable to settle on one task or another until Daisy started to whine at her. 

“Well, Daisy, should we try to cut down that tree, then? Better to do something productive anyways, right?” Tomoe said. Daisy’s ears pricked up at her name and she cocked her head to the side in that way she often did when Tomoe talked to her. 

She packed the four wheeler with a chainsaw, bungee cords, rope, stakes, a wedge and hatchet and sped off towards the south field. She had already marked off the tree and began setting stakes on one side to direct the fall. The tree itself wasn’t enormous, maybe ten or so feet tall with a trunk about a foot thick. She needed to clear it so she could get saplings in as soon as possible for her orchard since it would take a while for them to fruit. 

Once she staked the tree and triple checked the lines, she started to make her cuts with the chainsaw. The sun had risen further up into the sky and Daisy was circling behind her as she worked. She placed her wedge on her cut and began to drive it in with the blunt end of the hatchet until the tree started to begin its fall. Everything had been going according to plan when Daisy had moved under the trunk. 

Time slowed as Tomoe dove to push her out of the way. Daisy tumbled safely out of the pathway of the tree but as Tomoe looked up from where she lay she knew with dread she didn’t have enough time to clear the trunk and it landed with an agonizing thunk on her leg. 

—

Alex woke up and took a shower before brushing his teeth and turning his phone on. It had died during the game and he plugged it in to charge when he got back to the hotel. The night had been enjoyable, his dad seemed to like being there and the game gave them something to talk about and took the pressure off of both of them. They had planned to meet at a diner around the corner from the hotel Alex stayed for breakfast before he left to get back to Pelican Town.

When his phone blinked on, it started buzzing with new notifications. The first voicemail was from Tomoe. “Alex, call me” was all she said, but her voice sounded fragile and it sent a tremor of fear through his veins. He saw another voicemail from Haley and then a series of text messages.

 **Haley:** Alex, call me.  
**Haley:** I’m with Tomoe, please call.  
**Haley:** I’m guessing your phone is off, you need to call me.

He ran his fingers through his hair while he dialed Haley’s number.

“Haley, what’s going on? I saw your texts and heard Tomoe’s voicemail.”

“Alex, thank god, you need to get back to Pelican Town right away, Seb won’t leave Tomoe alone.”

“What did that fucker do? Is Tomoe okay?” he was pacing now and he could feel his hands starting to shake.

“She’s okay, he didn’t hurt her physically. Are you sitting down, Alex?”

“Just tell me what the fuck happened, Haley!”

“Okay, okay, Seb found your dad, Alex. Paid him to find you at the Fair and take you to the game so he could get Tomoe alone.”

“What?” he snapped. He had practically vibrating with a mixture of anger and energy, but now his stomach dropped and he stopped pacing.

Haley exhaled, “I’m sorry, Alex, it looks like Seb orchestrated your dad talking to you again as a way to interfere with you and Tomoe.”

“Shit.”

“I know. I told Tomoe to try and file a restraining order against Seb. When are you heading home?”

“Right away.”

“Okay, be safe” Haley replied and hung up.

Alex tapped out a text message to his dad saying he wouldn’t be at the diner and he was heading out right away. He couldn’t see him right now, not after what Haley had just told him and more than that he needed to see Tomoe. 

He called her while he flung all of his belongings into his backpack, it rung until going to voicemail.

“Tomoe, sweetheart, I talked to Haley. Call me, I’m leaving now.”

He dialed again while he finished packing and again while he walked to the elevator but it kept going to voicemail.

Once he got to the lobby of the hotel he almost plowed right into his dad who was carrying a paper bag and two paper cups of coffee. 

His dad’s smile faltered when he looked at his face, “you know, don’t you?” 

Alex took a step back and grabbed his hair, “just . . . I have to go.” He tried to sidestep him.

“Listen for just a minute, son. I didn’t take the money. I only took the tickets, but I didn’t want the money. I was going to tell you over breakfast, come clean.” 

“You should’ve told me earlier. Better yet you should’ve reached out to me on your own without someone pushing you to reach out to your own son.”

“You’re right, absolutely. I was just so ashamed of how things ended between us. I wanted to reach out ever since I went sober, I did! But I was too afraid. Please, going to the game with you last night was the best thing that’s happened to me in a while, you have to believe me.”

Alex’s chest was swirling with anger, fear and anxiety. 

“Please, don’t call me. I will call you when I’m ready, if I’m ready. I need to go.” 

His dad nodded grimly and thrust the bag and a cup of coffee in his hands, “take it, please. I got it from the coffee shop around the corner when you texted me.”

Alex took the food and coffee from his dad.

"Be safe."


	24. Keys

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dealing with physical injury in this chapter. Thank you for all of the comments and kudos!

Alex kept flicking between songs as he drove home, trying to keep his mind occupied on the road. He kept running a hand through his hair and tugging, the feeling of his stomach dropping to the floor kept rolling through him every time he thought of his dad being bribed to talk to him just so Sebastian could get to Tomoe. 

He knew he was clenching his teeth, could feel a headache coming on from the tension. If only he didn’t go to the goddamn game. It felt like maybe he was actually going to have some kind of relationship with his dad after all that he went through and he finally had work he enjoyed after getting dropped from his athletic scholarship. His life felt like pieces were slotting into place and Tomoe was the thread that bound it all together. Then suddenly it tilted sideways and he just wanted to be home. Home, shit. He realized with a jolt that he wasn’t thinking of being at his grandparents’ house, he was thinking of Tomoe’s farm. 

—

He couldn’t get ahold of Tomoe on the ride home which would not have been unusual most days if she was out in the field, but after what had happened with Sebastian last night it was driving him crazy. He just wanted to talk to her. When he finally pulled into her drive he was sure his hair was sticking up on end after all the tugging he had done to it on the drive home. 

He went to the house first and found the door unlocked. He looked around and couldn’t find her. When he went back out he noticed her four-wheeler was gone which meant she was out at the shed or in the south field. Great. He would have to walk. He started at a brisk pace with his heart in his throat.

He hadn’t gotten far when Daisy came running up to him, frantically barking and circling. He knelt down and she grabbed the sleeve of his flannel and tugged, “what is it, girl?”

She whined and kept tugging so he got up to follow her, picking up the pace.

Daisy led him to the south field where he saw Tomoe’s four-wheeler.

“Alex!” Tomoe cried, her voice breaking. That’s when he saw her pinned under a tree, her left leg caught under the trunk. She was on her back, her right leg free and bent at the knee. He could see she was trembling, her teeth chattering. She was probably going into shock. 

He ran to her and fell to his knees, cradling her head when he ran his hands gently along her body.

“I’m here, I got you” he crooned. Fear hollowed out his chest when he saw where her hip bent at an unnatural angle, toes pointing in. He guessed it was probably dislocated, he had seen that before when he played in college. “Besides your leg, does it feel like anything else is injured? Your back?” he asked, watching her face.

Tomoe closed her eyes and moved her arms and neck, leaning up on her elbows before shaking her head, “no, I don’t think so,” she said in between chattering teeth.

He brushed the pad of his thumb across her cheek, “you’re going into shock, I got to get the tree off of you.” He moved to her leg and went down on his haunches, wrapping his hands around the trunk. “I’m going to lift the trunk up, can you try and roll out once I have I have it up?” Tomoe nodded. He exhaled and pushed up, Tomoe whimpered and then rolled and once her foot was clear he dropped it again. 

“You did great, sweetheart. We need to get you to the clinic. I’m going to lift you up and we’re going to take the four-wheeler back.” 

Tomoe nodded, her eyes clenched and breathing hard, tears collecting at the corners of her eyes. Alex looped one arm behind her back and the other under her legs, careful to not have her dislocated hip pressed against his stomach. He picked her up and walked her to the four-wheeler, balancing her on his lap.

“Wrap your arms around my neck,” he told her. She did as he asked and buried her nose into his neck. He kissed the top of her head, “it’ll be okay, you’re going to be okay.”

—

Tomoe felt like she was swimming. She wasn’t sure how long she had been pinned under the tree. Her memories felt fragmented and the pain came in waves. Now that Alex was cradling her against his chest she started to let go of the threads of consciousness she had been holding onto. He was warm and strong and she could smell his distinct scent of leather, sweat and musky cologne. She closed her eyes and wrapped herself in the feeling of safety and let herself get swept into the shadows. 

—

When Tomoe woke up again, she was in a bed, with a warm weight pressed to her side. Slowly the aches came filtering back in, the dull, deep throb in her leg and exhaustion weighing down her limbs. She opened her eyes to the cold, white walls of an unfamiliar room with a TV hung on the wall. Alex was asleep having laid his head down on the bed next to her. She blinked again and noticed the hospital gown she was wearing and the brace along her leg. 

Tomoe brushed his hair from his face and his eyes fluttered, “Alex, come up here, you’re going to get sore laying like that,” her voice sounded a bit hoarse but otherwise more like her than when she had called for him when he found her underneath the tree.

Alex stirred before his eyes snapped open, “Tomoe! You’re awake, how are you feeling?” he reached for her hand and kissed it.

She smiled, “I’ll be better if you get up here with me.”

He shook his head, but smiled, “I don’t want to jostle your leg, you have a fracture in your fibula and Harvey had to pop your hip back into place.”

She tugged on his hands and pouted, “pretty please?”

He sighed before clambering up onto the bed next to her, cupping her face and giving her a long, sweet kiss. 

“You scared the shit out of me,” he whispered agains her mouth, his eyes closed.

She ran her fingers through his hair before cupping the nape of his neck, “I’m sorry” she whispered, savoring his nearness and the deep honey brown of his eyes.

He kissed her again, this time tasting her mouth. When their kisses began to turn hungry he pulled away and tucked her head under his chin, running a hand up and down her back.

After a moment of silence, Tomoe looked up at him, “so, how bad is it?”

Alex ran the pad of his thumb along her cheekbone, “it’s going to be three months before your leg fully heals. Harvey said you’ll have a walking boot in a couple of weeks or so, but before then you’re really need to be off your feet. It’s going to take a while for your hip to heal from being dislocated as well.”

Tomoe frowned, “shit. How am I going to keep up with the farm? I can’t be laid up for three months.”

Alex studied her, his eyes jumping back and forth between hers, “I could do it.” 

She shook her head, “I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re not asking, I’m offering.”

Tomoe closed her eyes and sighed, “Alex? are the jeans I was wearing when you brought me in somewhere?”

He looked at her in confusion, “I think so, they put your clothes in a bag along with your other belongings, why?”

“Go look in the pockets.”

He raised an eyebrow, but moved carefully out of her bed, rustling through a plastic bag set in the corner of the room. He pulled out her jeans and rooted around in the pockets until he pulled out the spare key she had made for asking him to move in with her.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“Alex, I was going to ask you before this all happened. I know it’s fast and we haven’t been together that long or, hell, even known each other that long—“

“Tomoe, what is this?” he asked again.

“I wanted it to be different, but I wanted to ask you if you’d move in with me.”

He stared at her in surprise and she bit her lip, trying to read his face. He strode over and gripped the sides of her face to kiss her soundly, “yes.”


	25. Going home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW fluff and smut

Alex savored her taste on his tongue and her heated skin in his hands. He knew as soon as she asked him to find a key in her pocket what she was going to ask him and yet he felt like he had broken apart in a hundred pieces to be realigned by her hands. He had been trying to not dream too high and move too fast, but the idea of building a home with her without the shadows of his past left him feeling light and buoyant and he wanted nothing more than to keep kissing her for at least the next hour. Yet here they were, Tomoe in a hospital gown and laid up in the clinic. Still, Alex would take any second he could find tasting her mouth and breathing her air. 

There was a knock on the door and Alex leaned away, but still held onto Tomoe’s hand. “Tomoe, good to see you’re awake,” Harvey walked in wearing his white doctor’s coat. “I would like to speak with you about your injuries and recovery plan.” She nodded and squeezed Alex’s hand while Harvey pulled a chair up to the side of her bed and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “You have a fracture on your fibula, not a full break and I don’t think you will need any pins places or surgery. You’re very lucky in that regard. Your hip was dislocated as well so the tissue around that socket has suffered some trauma. Both your lower leg and hip are going to need some time to recover.” Harvey exhaled. “I know this is hard news, but it is best for you to stay off your leg for a couple of weeks for as much as possible, then we’ll reassess to see if a walking cast makes sense. All in all, we are looking at three months of healing for your leg to repair itself.”

Tomoe nodded, but Alex could see tears collecting in the corner of her eyes. He leaned over and kissed Tomoe on her temple, “shhh, it’s okay. We’ll make it through” he whispered into her hair. She nodded but turned her head to wipe her eyes with the heel of her hand.

Harvey leaned over to place a hand on her shoulder, “we will make sure your leg heals right and everyone in Pelican Town will be willing to help.”

After taking a moment to wipe her eyes, Tomoe took a deep breath and turned back towards Harvey, “when can I leave here?”

“I always want to be cautious when someone loses consciousness so I want to observe you here for a couple of hours and then if everything is looking okay we can discharge you.” Harvey squeezed her shoulder again before standing up, “I’ll check back in a bit.”  
—

Alex lifted Tomoe from the passenger side of his truck, careful of every moment he made. It was late and the sun had already set by the time Harvey discharged Tomoe. As they went up the front steps she winced and he swooped down to kiss the tip of her nose, “I’m sorry, baby,” and he swooped down to kiss her on her nose.

Tomoe shook her head, “it’s okay, I don’t know what I would’ve done without you here with me,” she closed her eyes and let out a long, heavy sigh, “probably would’ve lost the farm.”

Alex shouldered his way into the house, setting her down gently on the couch and nestling her leg in pillows before leaning forward and kissing her forehead. “No, I don’t think so, you would’ve figured something out. You’re the most stubborn person I know.”

She laughed and shoved his shoulder, “you should be nice to me,” she pouted and he kissed her again.

“How’s this?”

“Not sure, I think I need to try more.”

He laughed and placed his lips to hers again, this time deepening the kiss. She moaned and gripped the hair at the back of his neck, tugging a little and tasting his mouth. 

Alex pulled away and shook his head, “Tomoe,” he said in admonishment.

“We’ll be careful” she sighed, pulling him towards her again. Her eyes were hooded and dark and his desire pooled in his groin. After everything that happened over the last two days all he wanted was to get lost in her.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t.”

He took a shuddering breath and leaned back, looking towards the ceiling, “you’re killing me.”

Tomoe ran hot fingertips up under the hem of his henley, stroking the patch of skin above the waistband of his boxers. Alex gathered her wrists into his hand, running his thumb over her lips with the other. “You’re hip was dislocated, there is no way I couldn’t hurt you.”

Her cheeks were flushed as she sighed a hot breath that washed over his lips, “please.”

He groaned, “I’ll use my hand.”

Tomoe shuddered in response, letting her head fall back onto the arm of the couch. Alex leaned up and placed a long lick from the hollow of her throat to her ear, whispering “do as I say or we’ll have to stop.” She nodded.

Alex reached down to gently roll the hem of her leggings down her body until her pussy was bare and glistening with want. She watched him with dark eyes as he gently rubbed the pad of his thumb down the length of her entrance. Tomoe’s hips bucked and she winced.

“Naughty girl, don’t move”

“Sorry,” she whispered in a husky voice.

He ran his thumb through her folds again and she sighed, but didn’t move her hips, “good girl,” he murmured and slipped his forefinger into her, the velvet heat clenching around his knuckle and pulling him in. She shuddered, but kept her hips still and he twisted and then bent his finger inside of her. He kept a lazy pace, adding another finger until a sheen of sweat clung to her neck and her walls trembled around him. He leaned down and sucked at her clit, putting a hand on her stomach and holding her still while she fell apart around him. He sucked at her until she came down from her climax, leaning up to smile at her and wipe his mouth with the back of his hand. 

Tomoe reached a hand and tugged on his shirt, “your turn.”

Alex caressed her cheek, “I’m fine, sweetheart.”

She laughed and gestured down where his jeans were tented, “please, I missed you, I like making you feel good too.”

He dropped his jeans and boxers, kneeling near the couch again, watching her appraise him with blown pupils, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. 

“Touch yourself” Tomoe commanded. Alex did as he was told, and she brought her hand under his sac to caress the patch of sensitive skin underneath them. He hissed and his eyes rolled up. 

“You’re important to me, I want to take care of you too” she murmured as he stroked faster and she continued to caress him. They stayed like this until Alex could feel the heat in his gut clench. Tomoe tugged him forward and tipped her head back, tapping her neck with a finger, “here, now, Alex" and he fell apart.


	26. Morning after

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the comments, kudos, love and sticking with me. This chapter is a respite from all the drama.

Tomoe woke up to a cold, wet nose pressed to her cheek. “Daisy,” she groaned before opening her eyes and listening to the soft sounds of Alex moving around the kitchen. 

She leaned up on her elbows, peering out the window to the early morning sun before turning to face Alex who was filling up a kettle in the sink before setting it on the stove. He was in a thick flannel over his henley and still wearing his beanie. 

“Good morning” he said quietly, walking over and giving her a gentle kiss.

“Good morning,” she smiled.

He stretched his arms up over his head, showing a bit of his lean stomach before taking his beanie off and ruffling his hair, “I think the sweet potatoes might be ready to harvest, I took some pictures, and I also got two dozen eggs from the hens this morning.” He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and handed it to her.

She looked at the pictures of the sweet potatoes and nodded, “they look ready, sorry, that’s going to be a lot of work without me.”

He shook his head, “don’t be, I got Haley to agree to help.”

Tomoe arched an eyebrow and was about to protest when a knock sounded at the door and Haley walked in without waiting for an answer. She marched right over to Tomoe and crossed her arms over her chest, “and what the hell did you think you were doing cutting down a tree by yourself?”

“I was—“ Tomoe started.

Haley put out her hand, “No excuses. After the night you had with Seb you should’ve stayed in. I’ll kick your ass next time you pull something like that and I don’t care if you’re already in a cast.”

Tomoe flushed. For a moment annoyance flashed in her chest but it quickly gave way as she felt overwhelmed by Haley’s affection. She was happy Alex had found someone like Haley to stand by him. Sure, she was a bit opinionated and probably overshared those opinions, but she was clearly also fiercely loyal and Tomoe was touched to have earned her loyalty. 

Tomoe looked to Alex who shrugged, “I couldn’t stop her if I tried and, trust me, I don’t want to try.” 

“It’s alright, I’m done now anyway,” Haley huffed.

Another, softer knock sounded at the front door and Abigail peeked around the corner, “uh, good morning Tomoe,” she murmured meekly. 

Tomoe stared dumbly at her, “oh, good morning, Abigail.”

Haley rolled her eyes and walked over to tug Abigail in, “Abby has something she wanted to say.” 

Abigail took a deep breath, “Haley told me what happened with Sebastian and I’m so so so sorry—“

Tomoe shook her head, “you didn’t do anything Abigail, you don’t need to apologize.”

“But I do, he kept tell Sam and me about how he just needed another chance with you and I didn’t challenge him on it. I just ignored it, I didn't think he was going to actually do anything. I could’ve stood up to him more and I didn’t and I’m sorry.”

Abigail was watching her with wide eyes. Part of Tomoe wanted to blame her and Sam. She was hurt and angry and it felt like those emotions didn’t have anywhere to go, they were just swirling around in her chest. It would be easy to unleash all of that on Abigail. But she also knew that the only person to blame at the end of the day was Sebastian.

“Thanks for coming to see me and I appreciate what you’re saying, but Sebastian made his own choices.”

Abigail bit her lip and nodded, Haley put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. The look that passed between them was one of longing and affection.

Alex must have noticed too because he rubbed the back of his neck, “are you two—?”

Haley shook her head, “later” and Abigail blushed. Tomoe giggled and covered her mouth with the back of her hand. 

For a moment, Haley’s unflappable facade faltered before it went back up and she stood up straighter, “Abigail said she would be happy to help in the fields, Alex. I’m going to stay with Tomoe while we call to file a report with the police.”

Alex went to Tomoe and knelt by the couch, cupping her cheeks in his warm hands, “whatever you want to do, I support you.” She nodded, studying the honey flecks in his deep brown eyes. 

“I think I want to do this.” 

He nodded and kissed her forehead. 

—

Haley flopped down into a chair, massaging her temples, “well that guy was a little less than helpful.”

Tomoe exhaled, “I don’t think it’s him, Haley. He didn’t say we couldn’t try to file a restraining order, just that the judge might not grant it.” 

“So what, we’re supposed to wait for Seb to pull a stunt like that again?”

“Well, the officer did say that Alex could try for a civil restraining order.”

“That would be for Alex, what about you?”

Tomoe dropped back down onto her back and rubbed her eyes, “right now, I would just like to get off the couch for a minute.”

Haley brought over her crutches and helped her ease up so that her weight was only on her right leg and Tomoe went down the hall to the bathroom. She splashed cool water on her face and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. Clearly she was exhausted. She had bags under her eyes and so looked bewildered and vulnerable in a way she wasn't used to seeing in herself. Part of her wanted to scream and part of her wanted to cry. This was not how she imagined asking Alex to move in and having a broken leg was not in her plans for the farm. More than that, she was unaccustomed to having people do so much for her. She was independent and proudly so. It was sobering and humbling to need to lean on people for so much and people. 

“You okay?” Haley was leaning with her shoulder on the doorframe. 

Tomoe nodded, “thank you.” Haley waved a hand. “No seriously, this is a lot of work for everyone, especially for Alex.”

Haley studied her and not for the first time Tomoe felt exposed under the scrutiny of her sharp blue eyes. “Taking help from people can be difficult, but you have to know how Alex feels about you.” 

“I mean, I think I do, but we’ve only known each other for half a year and only been together for a couple of months.”

“And?”

“And . . . tell me about you and Abigail.”

Haley rolled her eyes but laughed.


	27. Two steps forward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW. A slight tiny whiff of bondage play (just hands tied). Fluff, smut and angst.

“Okay, Tomoe, let me see you put weight on it,” Harvey said as he held out his hand to steady her off of the exam table. She carefully added her weight to her left leg in her newly fitted walking cast until she was able to stand. A flush of happiness hit her and she grinned at Harvey.

“Take a couple of steps for me,” he asked, carefully watching her as she moved. “Good. Now just because you have a walking cast does not mean you should be on your feet all day. Please continue to rest and come back in if pain increases in any way.” Tomoe nodded and gleefully grabbed her backpack as Harvey held the door of the exam room open for her.

Alex hopped to his feet from his lobby chair when he saw her and beamed, “look at you!” he said before kissing her. 

“Make sure she doesn’t overdue it, will you?” Harvey asked as he followed Tomoe from the exam room.

“You heard the doctor” Alex said with a smirk. 

Tomoe rolled her eyes, but hooked her arm through his and leaned her head on his shoulder. 

They made their way to Alex’s truck and he opened her door, helping her make the step up into her seat before he walked around the hood and slid in. Tomoe watched him, his dark hair framing his lean tan, sharp features. He was lean and hard except for his dark brown eyes, the color of earth mixed with honey.

“You are very beautiful,” she murmured as the engine turned over and he reached down to crank up the heat. 

His lips twitched in amusement as he put the truck in reverse and checked his mirrors, “hmmm, is that so?”

“Mmhmm” she hummed, running a fingertip up his thigh as they pulled out of the clinic.

He shook his head, “can I help you?” She hummed again, circling her fingertips on his thigh lazily. Alex exhaled before gripping her hand, “stop that, I’m driving.”

Tomoe smiled as he glanced at her before turning back to the road, “you know, Harvey said my hip is looking good.” 

Alex looked out of the corner of his eye, “get your head out of the gutter, Yakamura.”

Tomoe stuck her tongue out at him and he laughed. “How was Pierre’s?” she asked.

He shrugged, “fine, he said the eggs are selling well if we want to stock more there.” Alex was trying to exude a sense of nonchalance, but Tomoe could see his guard was up.

She frowned, “what happened, Alex?”

“Nothing to report.”

“Alex, I can tell you’re not saying something.”

He exhaled, “fine, I just ran into Jodi.”

“And?”

“And she was upset we tried to file a restraining order against Seb.”

Anger flashed hot and bright, “what the fuck for? Why does she care? The judge didn’t grant it anyways.”

Alex shook his head, releasing her hand and gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles were white. “I dunno, Jodi is protective and Seb’s always over at her house because of Sam. Small towns are like that, you know? Everyone takes sides even when it’s not their fight.”

Tomoe huffed a breath and let her head fall back. They had studiously avoided going to the Saloon ever since Sebastian had cornered Tomoe. They kept to themselves and the friends that surrounded them, but still everyone had heard what happened. It was like they were fighting a war and the whole town n eeded to choose sides. Strange that Robin had come to apologize to Tomoe but Jodi had resolutely refused to speak with her since it happened. 

“Hey” Alex cooed, placing his warm, heavy palm on her knee, “don’t worry about it, it’s not a big deal.”

Tomoe nodded, but she stared out the window. After a minute Alex lifted his hand from her knee and traced her jawline, tickling the sensitive skin behind her ear until desire began to pool in her gut.

“You’re just distracting me.”

“Is it working?”

“God yes.” 

Alex laughed as he pulled next to her house and jumped out of the cab before taking long strides to pull her door open.

“Who’s mind is in the gutter now?” she asked breathlessly as he cradled her against his chest and carried her towards the house. He responded by licking at the hollow of her throat. 

“I can walk now you know,” she protested weakly.

He nipped at her earlobe as he pushed open the front door and set her on her feet before pushing her against the door and kissing her roughly, pushing his hands into her hair. She gasped against his mouth, reveling in being able to kiss him standing up again, gripping his ass and pulling him against her. She tasted every corner of his mouth as he angled her head up towards him.

Alex pulled away to take a breath, “I’ve missed being able to do this to you,” he said, his breath hot on her throat as he nibbled the skin under her jaw. Tomoe slipped her hand under his sweater and traced the lean muscle of his back as he shuddered against her throat. She brought her other hand up to grip his hair and press him tighter against her neck. He placed wet kisses along her collarbone, tracing its line with his tongue until she, unthinking, tried to hook her right leg around his hip. 

Pain flashed in her leg as she lost her balance and winced. Alex caught her as Tomoe pressed a hand against his chest for balance. His breathing was heavy and his heart kicked underneath her palm.

“Naughty girl,” he said hoarsely and she laughed lightly, tracing his jaw with a forefinger. 

“Take me to bed, please” she said. 

He stared at her with black eyes, his chest heaving. He gripped her hand and stalked back towards their bedroom, tugging her after him. When they got to their destination, Alex gripped her hips and gently pushed her back until her thighs hit the mattress. He was looking at her with a hunger that twisted her stomach with longing. 

His lips curled into a devilish grin as he slowly brought his sweater up and over his head, biceps flexing with the movement. Tomoe licked her lips and felt her nipples and clit pulse with need. When she first met Alex he seemed overconfident and she couldn’t stand the way he seemed to flaunt his beauty. And yet he never seemed that way in the solitude of their bedroom. He was always effortlessly beautiful, all sculpted muscle, tan skin and deep musk but he moved without seeming to realize his own intoxicating allure. He was fully focused on her without any real conscious effort to show off. She was dizzy with the knowledge of possessing such a passionate, beautiful creature all to herself. 

She pulled her own clothes up and over her head and laid back on the bed. She drank him in and lazily pinched a nipple as he gripped his belt and wrenched it through his jeans.

“Jesus, Tomoe” he sighed, his eyes growing impossibly darker as he followed the movement of her hands.

“I want you inside this time, Alex, none of this treating me like I’m made of glass,” she growled. They had been intimate in other ways since her accident, but Alex had steadfastly refused using anything but his hands and mouth on her while her hip healed. 

He pushed his jeans and boxers down, stepping out of them before crawling over her and kissing her slowly from navel to neck. 

Tomoe bucked up into his chest, but he pushed her back down into the mattress, “you have to be good for me, I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I’ll be good, please, Alex,” she moaned as he rubbed his palms over her nipples. 

He looked up at her with a wicked smile, pulling her wrists up over her head and wrapping his belt around them. 

“Are you going to be good for me?” he asked, kissing her fingers as he laid her bound hands over her head.

She nodded.

“Is this okay?” he asked, touching the belt wrapped around her wrists.

“Very okay,” she said, closing her eyes and letting go. She was so worried about the progress of the farm, having to rely on him and others to do a lot of the work she was used to doing and with the situation with Sebastian and the rest of Pelican Town that it was bliss to let go of her control. She didn’t have to be the one deciding or pushing, she would let Alex take care of it, if only for a brief moment. 

He bent down towards her neck and kissed her again, using his teeth and nipping along her collarbone in the way he knew she liked before moving toward towards her breasts. He sucked in her pebbled nipple while rolling the other between his finger and thumb. She moaned and got lost in his caresses. Alex released her breast with an audible pop before carefully pulling her pants down, taking the leg off of her right leg and leaving the pant leg around her cast bunched up and out of the way. 

He watched her for a moment, his cock so hard it slapped his stomach with his movement, “I’m so lucky,” he breathed and she laughed.

“What, you’re into casts?” she asked and he shook his head.

“Stop it, you’re beautiful,” he said, running hot fingertips along the inside of her thigh. 

“You’re a tease” she groaned and he laughed, but continued to circle her thigh with one hand while stroking himself with the other. 

Tomoe was raw, her want for him singing in her veins. She needed more than just light caresses but when she would try and shimmy towards his hand, he could press her back down and continue his languid journey along her thigh.

“Please,” she moaned.

“Please, what?” he growled.

“Please now,” she begged.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, but she could see him trembling with need.

“You won’t, I’ll tell you if you do,” she said.

He watched her, chest heaving.

“Please, Alex” she begged again and this time he was on top of her, pushing in with one stroke to the hilt. She groaned with the delicious fullness and gripped his ass, pushing him in even further. 

“Okay?”

“Perfect” she moaned and he started to stroke into her. Usually he would draw out their rhythm and she was the one asking for more. This time his control was thin as he was already taking her fast. As much as she was able, she pushed her hips up to meet his strokes. She clenched her eyes, overwhelmed with his heat, taste and smell everywhere. She was unable to look in his eyes until she neared the edge. When she looked up at him met his eyes she broke apart around him and he hips stuttered as he met his own release. 

—

Later when they were coming down off of their highs, Tomoe was stroking Alex’s hair as he laid his head on her chest. 

“Alex?” she asked.

“Hmmm?” he mumbled, still drowsy from his orgasm. 

“I’m nervous about the Spirit’s Eve festival this weekend.” 

Alex looked up at her, “we don’t have to go.”

Tomoe thought for a minute before answering, “no, we should. Pelican Town is our home too.”

He nodded, “what are you afraid of exactly?”

“Seeing Seb again.” 

He sighed and laid his head back on her chest. 

“I want to punch that motherfucker for everything he put us through.” 

Tomoe continued to card her fingers through his hair, “please don’t”. 

“Why not? He fucking deserves it.”

“Because it would just end up hurting you.”

Alex rolled off the bed and padded towards the kitchen. Tomoe watched him go, wondering if she should press the subject or not. They had been so focused on the farm and the greenhouse and getting all of the work down while Tomoe’s hip and leg were healing that they never really dealt with all that had happened with Seb and Alex’s dad. 

Tomoe rubbed her hand over her face before slowly making her way to her feet.

“Want to talk about it?” she asked as Alex filled the kettle with angry movements. 

“Not really” he muttered. 

“Alex” Tomoe said in disappointment. 

He set the kettle down with more force than necessary and winced a little, “don’t push me, okay?”

“Fine, but we need to talk about it sometime.”

“Do we? I’m so scared that he’ll try to pull something again since the judge didn’t grant the restraining order.”

“He won’t, I’ll be fine” Tomoe said with more confidence than she felt. 

“Please don’t comfort me on this, he used my childhood trauma to get at my girlfriend.”

“Alex—“

“You think you’re afraid of seeing him again? I’m terrified of seeing him again and hurting him without being able to stop. I’m tired of the people I love getting hurt, what did I do to deserve that?”

Alex was looking at her with wild eyes. Tomoe’s heart was in her throat. She walked up to him and cupped his cheek.

“People you love?” she asked and his eyes flashed. He covered her hand with his own.

“Yes” he echoed quietly.

“So that includes me?”

“Yes” he whispered.

“So, you love me?” she asked, leaning so close to him she could see the flecks of color in his eyes.

“Yes, I . . .” he started, staring at her, his jugular jumping from his pounding heart.

“I love you too” Tomoe whispered.


	28. Spirit's Eve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it has been a bit longer between updates! I had been ill but am better now. A little bit of angst. Thank you for sticking with me through everything. It'll make our couple stronger in the end.

Tomoe was struggling to pull on a loose pair of jeans over her walking cast. It was the evening of the Spirit’s Eve festival and the air was getting almost frigid at night as they neared winter. 

The hem caught on her cast and she tipped back into the bed, “damnit” she cursed.

Alex poked his head around the doorway and peered at her in amusement, “need some help?”

Tomoe groaned, “I can’t fucking wait to get this damn thing off”, shimming down the bed to try and stand up again.

“Let me help” Alex said, moving over to gently work the pant leg over her cast. 

Tomoe flopped back down on the bed, watching him help with a small smile on his lips before reaching up and brushing the corner of his mouth with her thumb. Alex turned his head to nip at the tip of her thumb and she smiled.

“Sick of my convalescence yet?” she asked.

He shook his head, “of course not.”

Tomoe ran her fingertips under his eyes along the shadows there, “I can see you’re getting tired doing most of the farm work and the greenhouse reno.”

He smiled and finished pulling the hem down, “I’m not complaining.”

She pouted, “well maybe I am then.”

Alex took her hand and kissed her palm before pulling her up to her feet.

“Ready?” he asked.

She shrugged, “as I’ll ever be. I’m not going to hide, but I’m not looking forward to seeing Seb if he turns up.”

Alex’s gaze turned dark and hard, like two chips of jet glittering in moonlight, “I still don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be around him, but I’m not leaving you to the wolves.”

Tomoe ran her hands up his chest and settled them on his shoulders, “Haley, Abigail and Harvey will be with us not to mention George and Evie.”

He laughed softly, though it didn’t touch his eyes, “my grandmother might be more angry at Seb than me.”

Tomoe grinned, “see? you don’t need to be a bodyguard for me, I’ll be fine. I can kick his ass all on my own.”

Alex looked pointedly at her cast.

“Metaphorically speaking, at least right now” she said.

He laughed before brushing his knuckles over her cheekbone, “ready to face them, then?”

Tomoe kissed him then, tasting his mouth and breathing him in. She tugged at the hair on his nape, pulling him closer until they shared the same breath. When they finally resurfaced, they were both breathing heavily and Alex sighed against her lips, “right, we’re staying in then” he murmured before picking her up and wrapping her things around his hips.

She laughed and slapped at his chest, “no you goon, just” she bit her lip “if you need space at the festival just know that I’ll be okay. I want to make sure you are too” she said, watching his eyes.

A muscle in his jaw jumped as he watched her, still holding her against him, “okay,” he said before kissing her and setting her back down.

—

They arrived when the Spirit’s Eve festival was well underway. Tomoe made a beeline for Abigail and Haley doing her best to avoid seeing who else was around. Alex and Tomoe had been effectively holed up from most of the town since the incident with Sebastian and Tomoe could feel the town’s eyes on them as they walked. Haley and Abigail were holding hands and drinking some kind of concoction Gus had invented just for the festival, pumpkin puree mixed with apple juice and fizzy water. 

Abigail waved at them while Haley kissed Tomoe and Alex on their cheeks, “hello darlings, don’t worry, no sign of Sebastian.” She turned to Tomoe and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, “I want you to enjoy your first Spirit’s Eve celebration in Pelican Town, don’t worry about him or anyone else.”

Alex grunted and eyed what they had been drinking, “is that Gus’s pumpkin drink?”

Abigail flushed, she was still shy around Alex even though she had been spending much more time around him since starting to date Haley, “yes, it’s pretty good this year.”

He nodded and turned to Tomoe, “want to try some?” 

“Sure, sounds interesting,” she said.

He kissed her softly and walked off to get them drinks.

Tomoe looked around, taking in the decorations and atmosphere, “for a small town y’all go all in for these festivals.”

“It’s nice to have things to look forward to all year,” Abigail said.

Tomoe nodded before catching sight of Sam who just walked into the town square. She hadn’t seen him since Sebastian had cornered her in his car but she knew that Abigail and Sam had been texting. 

Abigail noticed him and bit her bottom lip, “do you want to talk with Sam, Abby?” Tomoe asked.

Abigail looked at her sheepishly, “yes, but”.

Haley waved a hand, “call him over then.”

“I would but . . . he said Seb might come.”

Tomoe felt a flush of anger and fear burst in her chest before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. “No, I want to talk to Sam, it’ll be okay.”

“Are you sure?” Haley asked. 

Tomoe nodded and Abigail waved to catch Sam’s eye. 

He walked to their table looking shy and nervous in a way that Tomoe had never seen him before. 

“Hey Tomoe” he murmured, running his hand through his wild blond hair, “listen, I know I haven’t said anything since your accident and when Seb, uh—“

“You mean when he pressured me and paid off Alex’s dad?” I snapped and Sam looked at his feet.

“I’m sorry, that wasn’t fair” I said quickly.

He raised his hands in surrender, “no, no you’re right. I should’ve reached out sooner. I’m sorry. I just,” he breathed out roughly before meeting her eyes, “Seb’s in a bad way, I didn’t want to abandon him.”

Abigail crossed her arms, “Sam, you can’t fix him, you know.”

“I know, I know, but he’s like a brother. I know what he did was wrong, but if I abandoned him who else would he have?”

At that moment, Alex returned to their table placing Tomoe’s drink in front of her and glancing at Sam before studiously studying the tablecloth. 

“Hey Alex” Sam said sheepishly. Alex looked up at him for a moment and Tomoe thought he he was going to return the greeting, but instead he tucked Tomoe into his side and took a gulp of his drink. 

“Oookay” Sam said before turning back to Tomoe. 

“So, uh, how’s your leg?” Sam asked. Tomoe could feel Alex stiffen next to her.

“Fine, it’s, uh, it’s healing well. Got my walking cast on this week” she said, turning her leg so he could see it. Sam nodded, but a tension had settled on them and Tomoe wondered if it had been one of her more stubborn ideas to want to come to the festival so soon after all that had happened. 

Just then, Sebastian arrived. Tomoe could see what Sam had meant, Sebastian’s hair had been shaved off and he now sported a buzz cut that highlighted his gaunt features. His eyes were red and his sweater clung to him in unflattering ways. There was something very off about him, he looked agitated and twitchy in ways that were very unlike him. 

“What the fuck?” Tomoe said. She had a wave of pity for him before it was drowned out by anger. 

Tomoe turned to Sam who ran a hand through his hair, “I told you, he’s really struggling.” 

Alex’s hand trembled around his drink, muscled jumping in his jaw as he clenched his teeth. 

“What’s he on about? Is his plan to throw a fucking pity party so we all forget what he did to Tomoe and me?” Alex bit out.

“Whoa Alex. He doesn’t have a plan, he just needs help” Sam replied. 

Haley put a hand on Alex’s arm, “take a deep breath” she murmured. 

Alex shrugged her off and gripped his hair until his knuckles turned white. 

He turned to Tomoe, “I think I need some space, come with me?” 

She looked at Haley, Abigail and Sam before turning back to Alex. His hands trembled and she could see pain swimming in his eyes. She had thought maybe they could all move on today but she had been naive. Alex had been happy to dote on her around the farm but she misjudged how much he had been hurt by his dad’s sudden reemergence being under false pretenses. 

Tomoe nodded, fitting her hand into his.


	29. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A resolution of sorts in this chapter. I think we are getting close to the end dear readers. <3

Alex’s reaction to seeing Sebastian surprised him. He expected anger, but what he hadn’t expected was the fear, it moved through his veins like little pinpricks. Tomoe had looked calm and otherwise only mildly affected by the whole scene. Yet what hit Alex wasn’t a fear for himself or a possessiveness for Tomoe. The experience of the weekend in Zuzu and her injury was a crucible for them both. When they came out the other side, part of him seemed to merge with her. The way Sebastian had disregarded her wishes burrowed into the pit of his stomach and stoked a fear deep and unrelenting that she might never be safe from a person who seemed to regard her as incapable of knowing her own mind. 

When he pulled Tomoe away from the town square he hadn’t hot a destination besides far away from there. Now as they neared the edge of the town square, he slowed, feeling hot and cold all over. 

Tomoe rubbed a hand down his back, “hey, we’re okay.”

He nodded and pulled her into a hug which she returned before looking up at him with wide, warm eyes. “Sorry, I needed to get away” he murmured, taking a deep breath and breathing in the scent of her hair as he buried his face into her neck. 

She nodded and hummed a little as she ran her fingertips along his spine before pulling back and tugging on his hand. “Come on, let’s try the haunted maze, I don’t want to go home just yet.”

Alex hesitated, rubbing the back of his neck.

Tomoe cocked an eyebrow, “you scared?”

He blushed, “I just, uh, I’m not the best with scary things.”

Tomoe grinned, “don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

Alex rolled his eyes and pinched her side, “all five feet of you, huh?”

“I’m offended.”

He kissed her neck, “come on then, lead the way.”

—

Alex found himself being pulled along by Tomoe who hobbled along in her walking cast, confidently inspecting whatever they encountered as they wove through the hedge maze. She would occasionally giggle at him as he cautiously inched along behind her. They turned a corner and encountered several giant spiders shrouded in shadows and Alex let out a yelp. Tomoe doubled over in laughter. 

“I’m glad I amuse you” he groused.

She wiped at her eyes, “I’m sorry, I just” she giggled again, “you’re just the big and burly athlete and you screamed because of some giant spiders.”

He pouted at her.

“Aww pobrecito,” she cooed, running her hands up his arms.

“That’s my line.”

She leaned in and kissed each corner of his mouth, “hmmm and I’m stealing it.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

“You love it.”

“Maybe,” and he kissed her deeply, tasting the tangy remnants of Gus’s pumpkin juice and the smokiness of the tea she was always drinking. He licked into her mouth until there was a sound of someone clearing their throat behind them. 

Alex looked over and his breath froze in his throat.

Sebastian was standing at the entrance to the part of the maze they had just entered, his face shadowed except from the faint glow of a cigarette held between his lips. 

“Sebastian, leave us alone,” Tomoe said firmly, wrapping her arm around Alex’s waist and leaning into him. 

Sebastian put his hands up in surrender, “I’m just here to apologize.” 

“What makes you think we want to hear it?” she bit out firmly.

“Fair point,” he echoed, taking a long drag on his cigarette and exhaling the smoke up over his brow. 

Alex found his voice, “you need to leave Tomoe the fuck alone.”

“Just hear me out, then I’ll be out of your hair, I promise.”

Tomoe tugged on the back of Alex’s shirt and he looked down at her. She nodded mutely and turned back to Sebastian, “make it quick, Seb.” 

“I did some things to you I regret. I realize that now. What I wanted wasn’t you, Tomoe, it was what you represented for me.” 

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

He took another pull on his cigarette, “I was already having doubts about still being in Pelican Town and when you moved back, well, I thought that if we started dating that would mean I made the right choices still being in this town because then I would’ve had a girlfriend.”

Tomoe snorted.

“I know, I know. My mom and I talked. I fucked up. I pushed and pushed and I didn’t hear you. You told me what you wanted, but I couldn’t believe that you would want to be with him—“

“Watch it,” Alex snarled.

Seb glanced at Alex before he continued, “and I didn’t see that he was the one who actually deserved you. He listened, he let you be yourself and as much as I don’t want to admit, he clearly loves you. I guess I just loved my invention of you, not you as you are.” 

Tomoe crossed her arms and watched Sebastian warily.

He took a final pull on his cigarette, hollowing out his cheeks before flicking it on the ground and grinding it with the toe of his boot. “I’m moving to Zuzu. It’s time I made my own choices. I have clients I can do coding for and Maru’s moving with me so we can split rent. I’ll be out of your hair.”

Alex blinked in surprise and Tomoe exhaled loudly.

Seb ran a hand over his buzzed head, “anyways, that’s all I wanted to say. I hope maybe one day we can be friends, but I won’t bother you again, promise.”

“I don’t know about friends, Seb, but thank you. For apologizing, I mean. For what it’s worth, I hope things go well for you and Maru,” Tomoe said.

Sebastian nodded and turned to Alex, “truce?” he asked.

Alex watched him before shaking his head, “I’m not like her, man. For right now, just leave her alone, alright?”

Sebastian raised his hands, “alright.” He looked at Tomoe one more time before nodding to himself and turning on his heel.

“One more thing, Seb,” Alex said. He turned and looked at Alex over his shoulder.

“Give me a cigarette, will you?” he asked.

Seb reached in his pocket and tossing him the pack, “there are only a couple left, take them.” 

—

Alex pulled on one of Sebastians cigarettes as he steered the truck out of the parking lot to head back to their home. Their home. He shivered at the thought. He had been surprised when she had asked. Not by her taking the initiative, that was the way she was, but surprised at his reaction. He knew he was falling in love with her, but when she asked he had realized he already considered her house his home, the place he felt where he belonged.

She reached over and squeezed his knee, misinterpreting his shiver as an aftershock from their evening at the festival, “you alright, sweetheart?”

He turned to exhale the smoke out of his cracked window. 

“I should be asking you that, don’t you think?”

She huffed a laugh, “I’m feeling rather light, actually. I don’t know if I’ll ever talk to Seb again, but at least it’s behind us.”

He nodded and they fell into a comfortable silence, something having been settled between them. Ever since the accident there had been a frisson of anxiety between them. As much as they wanted to leave it all behind them, they were looking over their shoulder for the other shoe to drop, especially after the restraining order wasn’t granted. Now it felt like they could let that anxiety go.

“What a fucking night,” he said after tapping ash from his cigarette out of the cracked window. 

“Mmmhmm,” she hummed, absently running her fingers along the top of his thigh as he drove. 

As he pulled up next to the house, he turned to her and saw she was watching him with dark eyes. “What are you thinking about?” he asked, tucking her hair behind her ear.

She shook her head and smiled, breathing in like she was about to speak and instead leaned in to nip at his bottom lip before kissing him. She ran her fingers through his hair and pulled him close, angling her head to dip her tongue in. He groaned before she pulled back and ran a thumb over his lips, “you taste different” she murmured.

“Seb’s cigarettes, he smokes cloves.”

She laughed softly, “of course.” 

He smiled but kept watching her, reveling in how the moonlight lit up her hair in a shimmering, dark halo. In the sunlight her black hair shone with warm brown tones but in the cold moonlight it was ethereal, like the dark surface of a frozen pond shimmering in the dark winter blue. It framed the milky smooth glow of her skin.

“You are” he started, but she put a finger on his lips, her eyes a deep, heavy black of love and shadow. She turned to open the cab door and he walked around the hood to lift her in his arms and carry her to the door.

—

Alex laid her gently down on their bed, working her jeans down her hips before gingerly working the belts open and pulling the cast off while she watched him, arms pillowed behind her head. 

Once they were both naked, Alex tucked a pillow under her injured leg and gathered her in his arms and the quilt over them both. He ran his fingers over every inch of her, kissing and tasting her while breathing quiet words of adoration. She shivered under his touch before turning to catch his face in her hands and run her thumbs over his parted lips.

“We’re okay” she whispered, kissing his cheeks and pulling him closer until their bodies were as flush as possible without jostling her leg. 

He nodded, “I know” and he kissed her languidly before whispering against her throat, “I’m home.”


	30. Epilouge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for everyone reading! I will be working on another work soon, but I will take sometime to outline the story.

_6 months later_

Today was a year since Tomoe moved to Pelican Town. They had talked briefly about how to celebrate and then got swept up in the busyness of Alex’s contracting work and the farm operations. Spring was her time to plant and she was also getting saplings in the ground where she had planned an orchard. Or maybe she was letting the work justify avoiding asking Alex to marry her.

During one of their regular Sunday brunches she ended up talking with Evie and George about the tradition in the valley to offer a Mermaid’s pendant in lieu of a ring as a proposal for marriage. Alex was enthusiastic in their retelling of how George proposed to Evie and it was clear to her that the gesture of repeating this tradition was the way she wanted to ask him to marry her. Later that same day she asked Evie to help her find a pendant and it had been sitting wrapped up at the bottom of her sock drawer ever since. Every time she thought about offering it to him, butterflies would choke up her throat and she would delay. But today, when she woke up to do her morning chores before the sun rose, she watched him sleeping in her bed and realized it was time.

That morning Alex would be off on a contracting job before she would get back from her morning chores. As she crept quietly around the house to get dressed for her morning, she fished out the wrapped pendant from the bottom of her drawer. She laid it quietly on her pillow with a note asking Marriage? Maybe underneath the cherry blossoms Y / N.

—

The rest of the morning Tomoe was distracted, taking twice as long to get done her chores as she normally would have. Her nerves were wrapped tight around her throat and by the time she headed back towards the house the sun was well and truly up and Alex’s truck was gone. Her hands trembled as she unlocked her front door and unhooked her boot laces from their eyelets before padding down the hall to their bedroom. The bed was neatly made with the note she had written laid across her bed and the necklace gone. She walked over to read the note with her heart in her throat. Y was circled many times over. Tomoe sat down on the edge of the bed and ran her fingertip over the grove the pen had left circling the Y trying to sort through the joyful and nervous energy zinging through her veins when she heard the sound of the front door opening.

“Alex!” she called and heard the shuffling sounds of him pulling off his coat and boots.

“Stay there, fiancé!” he called and she giggled, feeling a frisson of desire prick along her skin.

He appeared in the doorway, leaning with a forearm against the frame, peering at her with dark eyes and a crooked grin. 

“Under the cherry blossoms?” she asked quietly. 

“Anywhere you want, love.”

“Can I see it?” 

He stood up straight and reached behind his head and pulling his shirt over his head, the necklace glinted in the sunlight pouring in from the windows. It hung low, the pendant dangling between his pecks, several links of silver chain gracefully pooled in the dip of his collarbones. Tomoe bit her lip, feeling the strain of her emotion bracing against her ribcage.

“Do you like it?” she asked.

“She proposes to me and then asks if I like the necklace” he rolled his eyes before taking two long strides and lifting her up in his arms. He kissed her then, starting slow and then building until they were tasting into each other’s mouth and breathing heavily.

He set her down and stretched out next to her. “I can’t believe you asked me to marry you”, he murmured, running his fingers over her neck and shoulders. He watched the movement of his fingers with intense focus. Tomoe touched the crease between his eyebrows.

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

“That I want to remember the day I got engaged with as much detail as I can possibly manage,” he answered.

Tomoe tugged gently on the pendent before leaning down and kissing where it was nestled on his chest, smelling sweat and leather. He ran his fingers through her hair while she nipped at him, licking over where the chain rested on his skin, reveling in the goosebumps that sprung up along his skin. He moaned softly, the sound reverberating in his chest and vibrating her tongue. She bit him gently before moving back up his body and kissing him deeply. 

Tomoe hooked a leg over his hip and pressed him back into the mattress before leaning up and staring down at him. His hair was mussed and cheeks flushed and his eyes were glassy and dark with want. She cupped his cheek, running a thumb over the corner of his mouth.

“I’ve been about ready to puke I’ve been so nervous waiting for your answer,” she murmured, running her thumb over the edge of his lips.

He laughed and shook his head, “no reason to worry, I was always going to say yes.” At that, he pulled the tip of her thumb into his mouth, sucking and licking it in a way that went straight to her clit. She moaned and rubbed on his hips until he surged up and caught her mouth with his, fisting her shirt in his hand and pulling it up until her breast popped free. He leaned down and caught a nipple between his teeth while Tomoe finished pulling off her shirt. 

Her desire pooled in her gut as she rocked on his lap until Alex’s control snapped and he flipped her roughly on her back and yanked her pants off, pulling her panties with them. 

“Hurry” she whispered, watching as he moved to his own pants with lithe grace. When he landed back on top of her, she pulled him close so his bare skin was flush with hers, the pendant biting into her skin. 

He lined up with her entrance but paused before pushing in. Tomoe groaned and writhed underneath him, but he shook his head, kissing her gently. “I am so in love with you,” he whispered against her lips before pushing in.

—

That night they had made the rounds, calling Tomoe’s dad and bringing some ripe fruit from the greenhouse to Alex’s grandparents to let them know the good news. Tomoe felt giddy with joy and when they got home, she spend time just sitting on her front porch in the spring chill, enjoying the quiet and contemplating all she had gained in the space of a year.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work up on Ao3. I appreciate you spending time reading!


End file.
